


Spider of Scarlet

by ChocolateXMyMouth



Category: Black Widow (Movie 2020), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: BAMF Wanda Maximoff, Civil War? What's That, F/M, Family Feels, Fluff, Light Angst, Male-Female Friendship, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Precious Peter Parker, Yeah that's the story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:41:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 20,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26921551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChocolateXMyMouth/pseuds/ChocolateXMyMouth
Summary: Its summer break for Peter, which gives Tony an idea - instead of letting him waste his summer away indoors (he knows he wouldn't), how about letting him join the Avengers? The team will surely take care of him!However, in the process, Peter surprisingly ends up growing closest with the red-clad girl few people dare to approach, except the team. Let's find out how. (Everyone is happy-AU! :))
Relationships: Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes & Peter Parker & Sam Wilson, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Avengers Team, Peter Parker & Steve Rogers, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Wanda Maximoff & Avengers Team, Wanda Maximoff & Peter Parker
Comments: 21
Kudos: 139





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hullo everyone! What you're about to read is the start of a remaster of, accidentally, one of my favorite fics of all time that I've had the absolute joy of writing.
> 
> Peter and Wanda are two precious babies who deserve all the love - and I wanna specify, this story is meant to be read as just friends, but if you wanna look at it differently that's fine!
> 
> Hope ye all enjoy! <3

Tony Stark's expensive sports car drove its way up to the Avengers compound at a steady speed, with a very special passenger in the back seat.

This week marked the first week of summer vacation for Peter Parker, and Tony wanted to make sure that the kid wasn't going to be spending all of it indoors. He knew he wouldn't anyway, but still, Tony was out to provide the kid with some extra stuff to do. And after getting approval from Aunt May, he had found what he thought to be the absolute best option for Peter's summer.

Spending it as an Avenger.

And Tony was sure that the team would take good care of him - Steve, Clint, and Natasha were already great role models. He figured the rest of the team would realize he was a kid, and not give him too hard a time.

"You excited, kiddo?" asked Tony, briefly looking back.

"Y-Yes sir, Mr. Stark!" said Peter excitedly. "...Do you think any of the team hates me?"

"What? God no," said Tony. "Steve and Clint already like you, for one. Natasha won't admit it, but she does too. Vision just naturally likes people. I'm sure Rhodey likes you, and so do Barnes and Wilson, but they might tease you a bit. Typical rookie treatment, should slide over quickly. And Wanda will be glad to have a person around her age around for sure."

"Okay, awesome..." Peter said, taking in a deep breath. "Uh, j-just a question... can you tell me all their superhero names?"

Tony ran down the list - Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Falcon, Winter Soldier, Vision, and War Machine... but for some reason, Wanda didn't have a name yet.

This slightly saddened Peter. He knew what was in a superhero name; to him, at least, it was the coolest thing ever.

"Oh, we're here," said Tony, suddenly turning into the compound lot.

Peter took in a deep breath, letting it out as he nervously looked at the huge building. He was going to be an Avenger once he stepped inside those doors...

And he couldn't be more excited.

“Thank you so much for bringing me Mr Stark!” Peter said excitedly.

“No problemo kiddo,” Tony saluted him.

**-0-**

Peter towed his suitcase behind him up to his new summer home... he was very excited for this.

And he had already made up his mind - he would first apologize for the events that had happened about three months ago during the Civil War between the Avengers. He was pretty sure he had played a part in giving at least one of every member of the team opposite of his a black eye, so he wanted to make sure they knew he was sorry (so that they didn't kill him).

Speaking of which, the Black Panther, King T'Challa, had entered into a legal dispute with Ross over the legitimacy of the Accords about a week ago, and he was already making good progress - he had agent Everett Ross on his side, so that meant something too.

He was fairly certain that some of them had unfinished beef with him...

"Don't be nervous," said Tony as they walked up to the compound entrance together. "They're accepting, loving, and will treat you like one of their own the minute you get in there."

Peter nodded, and then, they stepped inside...

_Crap._

_The whole team is standing right there._

Captain America was standing in front of them all, smiling his signature patriotic smile - the one that had always appeared in those fitness videos they had watched in P.E.

"Hello, Mr. Parker," said Steve. "I'm Steve Rogers, Captain America."

"B-Big fan," Peter said, stepping up nervously to shake the captain's hand. "Uh... Bla-Black Widow?"

"Yes, Natasha Romanoff," said Natasha, smiling gently as she shook the kid's hand.

"And, uh-uh... Hawkeye?" Peter asked, moving over.

"Correct; Clint Barton, if you wanna know," said Clint.

Peter continued on down the line - Rhodey seemed nice enough, Vision was naturally warm and welcoming, and Bucky and Sam were the only two who he was still really scared of... they seemed nice, but he remembered what he had done to them at the Leipzig Airport.

And then, he came to Wanda...

"Peter Parker," he smiled, outstretching his hand.

"Wanda Maximoff," said Wanda, shaking his hand. Her Sokovian accent was still thick; he had a bad feeling she didn't like him already.

However, as they shook hands, she noticed how gentle he was being, and the small jitters in his hands.. She gave him a soft smile, sensing via her powers that he was on edge. Wanda had been in his shoes before; nervous to be a part of the team, nervous about basically having a new family. She knew what the kid was going through.

And that's why, to everyone's surprise (including Peter's), Wanda pulled the newest Avenger into a gentle hug.

"O-Oh," Peter said, hugging back. "T-Thank you, Ms. Maximoff."

"You're welcome," Wanda said softly. "And please - call me Wanda."

As the two separated, she gave his shoulder a gentle pat, and he gave her another warm smile.

She liked the kid already.

Meanwhile, Steve was smiling like a proud father at Wanda - he was so proud that she was growing out of her shell and able to be less and less nervous around other people lately. He knew these past few months had been hard on her. Natasha and Clint, meanwhile, could easily be mistaken for proud parents.

Tony was happiest of all - he didn't show it outwardly, but in his heart, he couldn't be prouder of Peter.

"Alrighty Pete," said Tony, clapping the kid on the back, "I will see you whenever I'm around here. In the meantime, I need to go pick up Pep for our vacation. I yearn to see the beaches of Maui."

"Goodbye, Mr. Stark!" said Peter.

"See you soon, Tony," said Steve, nodding.

After Tony said his goodbyes, Peter took in and let out a deep breath.

"Wanda? Would you be so kind as to show Peter to his new room?" asked Clint, knowing Wanda would gladly do so.

"Sure," said Wanda. "Follow me, Peter."

And with that, Peter followed the young Avenger to his new room.

The rest of the team, meanwhile, began to quietly converse on their newest recruit.

"So, when do we start training him?" asked Rhodey.

"Slow down there, Rhodey," said Natasha. "Give the kid about a week or so to settle in, maybe play a game of basketball with him or something."

"Don't exclude him just because he's new or young," said Clint. "He's one of us now."

Steve nodded. "We'll give him a warm, proper welcome tomorrow."

**-0-**

Wanda showed Peter to his new bedroom, which he immediately marveled at. It was so big... basically, it was almost (if not exactly) the size of May's apartment! The Avengers had such a cool place...

"And, in case you're wondering, we are neighbors," said Wanda. "So occasionally, you'll hear me over in my room, playing guitar or watching TV. Hope that doesn't disturb you."

"It won't," Peter smiled. "A-And you play guitar? That's so cool!"

"Thank you," Wanda said, a bit taken aback by how cool Peter thought... just about everything was.

"Hey, uhh... so, I kind of promised my Aunt May that I would get a photo with at least one of the Avengers," he began, "and, uh... would you mind taking a selfie?"

Wanda wasn't one to be recognized in public, so technically, this was her first experience getting a picture with a fan - even though Peter was a teammate.

"Of course not," Wanda smiled, brushing back her hair with her hands.

Peter dug out his phone from his pocket, and snapped a pic with Wanda right next to him. She was smiling enough to barely show her teeth, and Peter was beaming like a fanboy (which yes, he was one. He thought Wanda was an amazing hero.).

"Thank you, Wanda!" Peter smiled.

"You're welcome," Wanda said, smiling softly. "Remember, if you need any help, I'm right next door."

"Got it," Peter nodded.

As Wanda left, she still had a soft smile on her face.

She had a feeling that the kid would fit right in here on the team...

And she'd be the first to help him out.


	2. Chapter 2

Peter awoke with a yawn the next morning, stretching out with a lot more room than he was used to. He immediately remembered what the room was, and pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming - yep, this was it. He was actually a freaking Avenger...

He was unable to stop a laugh from ballooning out of his chest.

Eager to get his first day started, not even bothering to check the time (it was barely 6:00), he jumped out of bed eagerly and hurled himself into the absolutely gargantuan bathroom - seriously, this thing was huge! - and took a very fast shower. After getting himself ready, he practically jumped back into his pj's to go eat breakfast.

From what Mr. Stark had told him, this was a more relaxed time for the team. He was so excited... breakfast with the Avengers!

As he stepped out of his room, he bumped into a familiar face - makeup-free, sporting a messy bun, and wearing an old t-shirt, sweats, and black ballet flats. Wanda.

"Good morning, Ms. Maximoff!" said Peter cheerfully.

“Good morning to you too,” Wanda smiled. “And please - it’s Wanda.”

"O-Oh, gotcha; sorry," Peter said, sheepishly bowing his head.

"Peter, you have no reason to be sorry," Wanda said gently. "You've done nothing wrong."

"I-I know, I just... naturally apologize, if that helps?" he shrugged.

Wanda already knew she was gonna like this kid a lot. He was definitely one of the team; and she had only known Peter for around a half a day, but if anything happened to him, she would kill everyone in her surroundings and then herself. She got that from a show she was watching in her spare time.

Suddenly, Peter felt a surprisingly cold hand ruffle his hair. He chuckled, turning around to see Bucky Barnes next to him.

"Morning, squirt," Bucky said affectionately. "How was the first night?"

Peter, being the pop-culture obsessed teen he was, almost blurted out the exact details of his first night in Minecraft. However, he managed to quiet down the urge to reference something, and just told about how much he had enjoyed it.

"That's good, kiddo," Bucky said. "Glad you enjoyed it."

"He asked me to take a selfie with him," Wanda added proudly.

"Wow..." Bucky muttered. "You know, selfies are a big honor around here."

"Would you like one, Mr. Barnes?" asked Peter.

"Hmm… Why the hell not," Bucky shrugged.

The two then took their selfie together, with Bucky lightly smirking - a former unheard of sight. Wanda, meanwhile, just smiled as she watched the two... she was so happy for both of them. Wanda was just really happy lately; her week had been a good one.

Suddenly, a new face joined the three as they walked down the hall - Captain Steve Rogers. "Good morning, you three."

"Morning Captain," Peter said, saluting the captain.

Steve chuckled. "We don't do that here, Peter. We're all friends."

"O-Oh, okay," Peter nodded. "I guess I'm just, y'know, still figuring this whole 'Avenger' deal."

"That's alright, kid," Steve said. "You'll get the hang of it eventually. Don't sweat it if it takes a while."

The little band of four continued walking down all the way to the Avengers-only kitchen (Peter almost didn't feel worthy to enter), where they saw the domestic beauty that was Clint and Natasha making a complete breakfast together.

"Okay, enough snogging me, get back to the bacon!" Natasha giggled, 'trying' to get Clint off of her.

"Why would I settle for breakfast when I have a three-course meal right here?" Clint teased his wife.

Natasha blushed almost unrealistically. "J-Just get back to the bacon before someone sees us!" she laughed.

Thankfully, none of the Avengers had been spotted snooping on the couple, and walked in like it was any other morning. Peter, of course, offered his help as soon as he walked in. "Do you need any help cooking?" he asked politely.

"Well, I wouldn't mind someone making sure Clint doesn't set anything on fire," Natasha smirked, "so yes please, Peter. Thank you very much."

"One time, Nat," Clint muttered underneath his breath. "Hey, kiddo, could you flip the pancakes? Spatula's right over there."

"Sure thing, Mr. Barton!" said Peter, grabbing the spatula and flipping the pancakes. Clint chuckled and smiled at the kid - finally, he was getting some well-deserved respect! (of course he got it before this. He just liked to joke about it.)

Sam and Rhodey then walked in, with Vision following shortly behind them. "Woah, those are lookin' good kid!" Sam exclaimed, observing the pancakes Peter had just flipped.

"O-Oh, I didn't make these, I'm just flipping them," Peter quickly said.

"Doesn't make them any less good," Rhodey observed. "You're a natural, Pete."

"I must say, Mr. Parker," said Vision, "that, despite the fact that I cannot eat food, for I have no need for it, your pancakes look awfully delicious."

Peter blushed at the amount of credit he was getting for just handling the pancakes for Clint - it really was humbling to him. However, his thoughts were suddenly intruded by FRIDAY's voice coming over the speaker.

"Captain, a FaceTime call is coming in from Tony Stark," the AI said. "Would you like me to play it?"

Everyone heard Steve silently wonder what FaceTime was, before accepting the call. A rectangular hologram of Tony appeared in the middle of the kitchen, and everyone paid attention.

"Hey all, just calling in to check on Peter," said Tony. "How're ya doing kid? They giving you a rough time?"

"Oh, Mr. Stark, I-I can't take it anymore," Peter said, struggling to keep his character about him.

"I thought I said snitches get stitches!" Bucky called out from the coffee maker.

Tony chuckled at the obvious act. "But for real, Mr. Stark, it's been amazing," said Peter. "I've already made friends here... and a few enemies."

"Dammit Wilson," Tony muttered under his breath.

Sam looked up from his toast, raising an eyebrow - going along with the act, of course.

"But Ms. Maximoff has been keeping me safe from their merciless attacks!" Peter added.

Wanda was, thankfully, reaching for a glass in the cupboard, so she was able to successfully hide her blush.

"Well done, Wanda!" Tony said. "Well, keep me posted. Anyone tries anything stupid, I'll fly over with the paperwork, and we'll start a new team of Avengers. Sounds good?"

"Sounds good," Peter nodded.

"Alrighty, later kiddo!" Tony said, waving goodbye and hanging up.

Rhodey had struggled to keep in his laughter for the whole call - that was so Tony.

Wanda, meanwhile, was still smiling as she filled her glass with orange juice… She was already a massive fan of Peter's.

After everyone had finished their meals, their day of training was about to start - when suddenly, Agent Maria Hill called in to inform Steve of a well-known terrorist's presence in an area that the Avengers could easily move onto and move out of. In another time zone.

"Got it," Steve nodded. "Alright. I'll let the team know. Thanks, Maria. Alright, goodbye."

And with that, Steve turned to his team. "Listen up team - we've got reports on the location of one of our elusive terrorists. This may be our only opportunity to track them down, so we need to take this chance. I want all of you loaded up on the Quinjet within the hour so we can get moving."

Peter raised his hand. "D-Does that include me, Captain Rogers?"

"You haven't been with the team long enough, kid," Natasha said. "We're gonna need to bench you for this."

Peter looked a little down, but he kept his head held high. "That's fine, I totally get it."

"Proud of you, kiddo," said Clint, giving him a supportive smile.

"And, tell you what - one of the team can stay behind with you," said Steve. "Do I hear any volunteers?"

Before whispers or glances could be exchanged among the team (which she knew would give Peter an illusion that everyone didn't like him), Wanda stepped up. "I'll stay back."

His eyes lit up. "A-Are you sure? Because, like, it's cool if you want to go! I-"

"No, I'm sure," Wanda nodded. "Are you okay with that, Steve?"

"Absolutely," he nodded. "Wanda, Peter, go through the basic routine for the day. We should be back before midnight - if we're not, don't worry. The mission just might be taking a little while."

"Got it, Captain," Peter nodded, smiling at the prospect of spending the day with Wanda, who seemed to already like him. "We'll be waiting."

"Good sport, kid," Clint said, stepping forward to pat his head.

Natasha gave him a smile and a nod, which was more than enough for Peter to know that Natasha was proud of him - it gave him a warm feeling inside to let him know that the Avengers were proud of him...

Of course, it was still second to the feeling he got when Mr. Stark or Aunt May were proud of him - something about those two made them special and dear to his heart.

Anyway, the other four Avengers filed past to go with Steve, Natasha, and Clint, all giving nods of support and comments about good luck to Peter. Sam playfully, and, not-so-quietly whispered that Wanda could be a handful, which resulted in him getting a shove, scoff, and an eye roll from the Maximoff girl. Of course, she knew he was playing; she was just playing along.

"Farewell, Mr. Parker," said Vision, shaking Peter's hand. "I look forward to getting to know you more upon our return."

"You too, Mr. Vision!" Peter smiled. He was extremely fascinated by the robot - he had so much emotion in that soft little voice of his.

And with that, the other seven Avengers walked out of the room, leaving Peter and Wanda alone.

"Well, Spider-Man," Wanda said, putting her hands on her hips. "Ready to train?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Peter said, standing ready to attention like a well-trained soldier. "What's first?"

Wanda smiled.

She could already tell the three-mile run was going to be very fun today...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and Comments are adored and appreciated by this author!! Love you all so much <3


	3. Chapter 3

Wanda had now traded her sweats and flats for ball shorts and tennis shoes, and had tied her hair up into a ponytail in preparation for the day of training ahead of them. She knew that Peter would do well; it was just a question of how well that had to be answered.

So when Peter ran out onto the track, not at all deterred by the light gray skies or small wave of fog rolling in, she already knew this would be a good day.

"Alright Peter," she said, sitting down in the lawn chair she had prepared, "the first exercise will be a timed three-mile run. The track you're running on takes three laps to make a mile, so that's nine laps in total. I will be timing you for this first three-mile run. After that, we'll have some fun. Okay?"

"Sounds great, Ms. Maximoff-I-I mean, Wanda!" Peter said, correcting himself.

Wanda smiled at him, before taking out a stopwatch and readying it in her hand. Peter positioned himself on the track, and took a running stance.

"Ready... set... go!"

And with that, she pressed the button on the stopwatch, and Peter didn't take off - he _shot off._ He was like a rocket with the speed he was going at! The next time she and Steve went on their monthly coffee run, she'd have to tell him to challenge the kid to a race.

By the time he had completed the first lap, only two minutes had passed - he was wickedly fast!

And then, another lap went by. Another lap - he was now at a full mile. It hadn't even been seven minutes.

Then, another mile passed like nothing.

Then, he was on his final lap, and Wanda was left just scratching her head at how the kid was so remarkably fast.

He then finished, throwing up his hands triumphantly, and Wanda pressed the stop button. "Nine minutes... that's almost three minutes for each mile."

"Woah! That's... that's, w-well I'd hope it's not too bad," said Peter.

"Are you kidding? This is amazing!" Wanda exclaimed. "You need to challenge Steve to a race sometime."

"Oh, Captain Rogers would kick my ass," Peter said, scoffing at such a notion... him beating Captain America in a race. He was honored that Wanda thought that highly of him, of course, but still - it didn't even seem possible to beat Captain America in a race.

Suddenly, Peter's phone rang - it was an unknown number.

"Oh, you're gonna want to answer that," Wanda said, "Steve told me that King T'Challa was going to call you today."

"O-Oh! Okay..." Peter said, nervously answering - literally every possible negative scenario was running through his head right now as he nervously answered the phone. "H-Hello? King T'Challa?"

However, the king greeted Peter warmly - the one thing he hadn't counted on happening was happening.

"Yes, hello Mr. Parker!" said T'Challa proudly. "This is your number, correct?"

"Y-Yes, your highness," Peter said reverently.

"Great! Now, I have an important job for you," he said, "I would like you to inform the Avengers that I will be visiting them next month, on June 12th, as part of my trip to the USA. Would you be so kind as to do that for me?"

"O-Of course I will, your highness!" Peter said excitedly. "T-Thank you for this honor!"

"But of course, Mr. Parker," T'Challa said happily. "Thank you very much for carrying my message. I shall see you next month!"

And with that, after saying their goodbyes, Peter hung up. Wanda asked him what the king had said, and Peter delivered the news. "Wow... sounds like a big deal," Wanda said, nodding. "Well, we'll let the team know. For now, let's have some fun with this exercise - let's have a race."

"Ooh, sure!" Peter said. "I call the outermost track."

"Alright then," Wanda said, catching what he was getting at - he was insanely fast, and he didn't want to just outright sprint ahead of her. She thought it was a nice gesture, though she didn't mind a challenge. Still, she took the innermost track.

"Ready... set... go."

And with that, the two took off. Wanda actually managed to pull ahead at the start, and she kept her lead steady. Peter was actually trying very hard to keep up, but then again, he had chosen the outermost track.

Wanda smiled to herself as she kept her lead... when suddenly, on the last leg of the race...

"ON YOUR RIGHT!"

Peter suddenly sprinted at an unreal speed - and managed to beat her across the finish line.

"Wow... you're... you're fast, Peter!" said Wanda, panting lightly.

"Thank you!" Peter smiled. "And you did great. I actually thought you were gonna win."

"Oh, stop it - you had that little scheme from the beginning," Wanda said with a smile.

Peter shrugged cheekily, and the two shook hands to signify their good sportsmanship. They agreed to take ten, before moving onto the next workout.

**-0-**

The rest of the day went by fairly normally. The two did fight training, with Peter and Wanda winning an equal number of times. After their training had concluded, coincidentally, it was lunchtime. The two decided to head out together to grab some food, and they both got a sandwich from Subway.

After that, the day continued on as it normally would have - training, exercising, and jogging around the track. When five o' clock came, the two were finally able to relax individually after the long day.

However, when Peter was in his room, sitting in his chair and looking at some news article about how the Avengers had been spotted in western Morocco (the terrorists had tried to use a remote location to camouflage themselves), he heard a soft knock on his door.

"Coming!" he said, getting up.

When he answered, there was Wanda - she had, once again, donned her pj's, and her hair was let down.

"It's movie night," she said. "If you're up for it."

"Oh, absolutely!" Peter smiled. "Just gimme a sec."

"Of course," Wanda said, smiling gently, and making her way down the hall and to the living room.

Peter quickly finished texting his group chat - appropriately entitled "WE KNOW SPIDEY", consisting of his best friend Ned, Ned's girlfriend Betty (who he had told so she didn't accidentally report it in the school bulletin one day), and Michelle, who they had added after she straight-up told him it to his face.

He couldn't deny... he was actually kinda happy Michelle knew too.

_Gonna be having a movie night with my new friend Wanda! Be back soon all - Peter P._

_Yoooo lit - Betty B._

_Nice one. - Michelle J._

_Have a good time bro! - Ned L._

With that, Peter jumped back up from his chair, and looked at his clock one more time - 6:15 - and headed out to meet Wanda in the living room. She had gone to the adjacent kitchen to prepare herself and Peter a bowl of popcorn, leaving Peter to set everything up.

"So, do you want to pick the movie?" asked Peter.

"I chose last time, you go ahead," Wanda said from the kitchen. "Beginner's choice."

In reality, she hadn't chosen last - she just wanted to see Peter's taste in movies. This was important to her, so she could know what to expect when it rolled around his turn to pick again, this time with (probably) the whole team there to watch it.

Besides, last time, it was Bucky's choice - he had chosen "Hot Tub Time Machine", which contained an actor (Sebastian-something) that looked eerily like him. He still hadn't stopped thinking about it.

When she got done with the popcorn, however, she returned to see the poor kid struggling to pick from the shelf. "Stuck on what to pick?" she asked.

"Yeah... you guys have so many good selections!" Peter said.

A smile suddenly formed on Wanda's lips. "Follow me. Let me show you something."

He was led back to Wanda's room, which looked like the definition of tidy and beautiful - and plus, that bed looked really comfy. Then again, every bed looked extremely comfy to Peter. She knelt down underneath her bed, and pulled out a cardboard box...

And inside was a plethora of musicals.

"This is mine and Steve's secret stash," said Wanda, smiling. "He got me hooked on movies from his time recently, and we sometimes watch them whenever the team picks something stupid - aka, Rhodey’s nights.”

“Wow,” Peter laughed. Wanda also giggled softly. “Do you like musicals, Peter?"

"I've always loved musicals!" Peter said happily. The two sorted through the collection, before Peter saw something he hadn’t watched yet. "Ooh... 'Swing Time'? That's one I haven't seen before."

"Me either," said Wanda, "Steve did say it was one of his favorites, though. Wanna watch it?"

"Sure! Can't go wrong with Fred and Ginger," he said.

Wanda nodded in approval, and smiled a sweet smile at Peter - she could already tell his taste was good.

The two made their way back to the living room, popped in the movie, and sat down on the couch. Wanda grabbed the throw blanket and curled underneath it, and Peter sat a respectful distance with the bowl of popcorn between them.

"You can scoot closer, if you'd like," Wanda said.

"O-Oh, thank you," Peter said. "I think I'm good, though. But thank you so much for the offer!"

"You're welcome," Wanda smiled.

And with that, the movie started to play. Wanda and Peter were immediately engrossed by the tale that brought Lucky and Penny - the two main characters of the movie - together; it was a romance tale that was completely new to the two. 

“So, he has to make the money to have a second chance at marrying the chick, and instead he falls in love with his dance teacher?” asked Peter, mouth filled with popcorn.

“Seems like it,” Wanda shrugged. 

And they loved it. The music was catchy, the actors were amazing looking, and of course, black and white movie musicals were a classic that you just didn't get anymore.

The dancing routines especially captivated Wanda - she seemed to incline closer to the screen whenever one or more of the actors broke out into a dance number. She watched their feet with intrigue, and a smile was always on her lips whenever they moved about.

Peter enjoyed it too, but he was more captivated by the singing; he still liked the dancing, of course, but his secret passion was singing. He hadn't told anyone but May, and he preferred to keep it that way.

Eventually, when the movie slowed down a bit, Peter inquired about Wanda's piqued interest. "You seem to really like the dance numbers."

"Yes," Wanda said, her accent almost dropping completely - this meant she was happy and enjoying herself. "Tap dancing has fascinated me ever since I learned about it. I've wanted to do it ever since, but being an Avenger comes with not having a lot of time to yourself. One day, when I get the time, however, I hope I can learn at least a little bit."

Peter nodded. "Well, if you ever want some help..."

Wanda suddenly turned to Peter. "You can tap dance?"

"N-No! I wish I could, but I can't," Peter chuckled. "I was going to say, though, that if you wanted someone to help you, or-or just to, like, spot you, I'm open to it."

Wanda smiled. "Sure thing, Peter. I'll let you know, okay?"

Peter smiled back, nodding his head.

Wanda then leaned over to him, so she didn't make him jump with what she was about to say. "You have a beautiful voice, by the way."

He lightly blushed, but she continued before he could defend himself. "Maybe you could sing and I could dance..." she said, still keeping her smile.

Peter couldn't help but imagine that scenario - in an old 1940's scene, Peter was stepping onto a stage, clothed like he was about to head out to the Ritz ballroom, singing a song to entertain the crowd - then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Wanda jumps onto the stage and bursts out into a sporadic yet masterfully choreographed tap routine, and the whole place just accepts it.

The smile didn't leave his face for the rest of the movie.

**-0-**

A little while later, after the movie had finished (they may or may not have re-watched a few of their shared-favorite scenes), they decided it was getting late, and they were tired; so they decided to head off to their own rooms.

Before they separated, however, Wanda turned to Peter with a smile. "I'm glad I could tell you about my secret love for dance, Peter... it feels good to get that out."

"Well, no one else knows I like singing," Peter said, "so, hey, no problemo! Feeling's mutual. I had a great day, anyway."

"I did too," Wanda said. "Goodnight Peter. Sleep well."

"You too!" Peter said, waving goodnight as Wanda headed back to her bedroom.

As Peter flopped back into his chair and called May right before he headed off to get ready for bed, he couldn't hide the excitement on his face.

He had only just joined the Avengers, and he had already found a friend.

He had a feeling this was going to be a _fantastic_ summer…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos/Comments are loved and appreciated!! <3 Wanda and Peter are two precious beans and that's just the facts


	4. Chapter 4

That Friday morning in the Avengers compound was like a perfect morning.

Peter woke up like it was the best day ever - he felt fresh, revived, and ready to start his day right. He hopped out of bed, not even realizing that dawn had barely begun to crack over the horizon, and jumped straight into the shower. He was excited about today for some reason, one which he couldn't exactly pinpoint. He guessed it was just casual jitters that tomorrow, he would be spending his first official weekend in Avengers HQ.

It was enough to make a teenage boy like him excited.

Anyway, when he was fully ready to get his day started, he then realized it was actually only 5:45 AM. Figuring he didn't need to disturb his teammates or serve them a cold breakfast, he sat down on his chair and pulled out his phone to look up some stuff about the recent court confrontation between Secretary Ross and King T'Challa.

Only one minute into the video, and Peter already knew the winner. Agent Everett Ross (not in any way related to Thunderbolt Ross) had T'Challa's back in court, and even though he didn't need it to win, it helped prove the point to the public.

"Only time I'll ever give a damn about politics," Peter muttered.

Anyway, after hearing all the depressing stuff Secretary Ross was bringing up, Peter needed to cheer himself up - so he watched a video he shot a day ago with Wanda. It was just a little thing he had shot when they went out to grab lunch, but they were both quipping jokes and laughing with one another.

He honestly couldn't believe how lucky he had been to have only been with the team for about two and a half days and have already found a new friend.

"I'm so lucky Mr. Stark talked to me," Peter muttered to himself.

When 6:15 finally rolled around, the time the early risers were usually up, Peter decided he could make his way to the kitchen and see if anyone else was there. Surprisingly, there was - unsurprisingly, it was Steve.

"Morning, kiddo," Steve said. "You're up early."

"I-I honestly didn't even notice," Peter said, chuckling lightly. "I guess I'm still not over the hype surrounding being an Avenger."

"Hype? Do you mean 'high'?" Steve asked.

"N-No! I-I would never, never-EVER get high," Peter said. "Hype means 'excitement'."

"I see," the captain nodded. "I'm still figuring out this culture's sayings. Yesterday, on the ship, Sam yelled 'yeet' when he tossed me a water bottle, and I still don't know what it means."

Peter snickered, before he regained a serious expression. "So, how'd the mission go yesterday?"

"Well, we didn't catch the main culprit," said Steve, "but we did get a codename: Viper."

"Wonder who that could be," Peter muttered.

"I'm on the same page as you kid," Steve agreed, nodding his head.

The two continued to make small talk, and apart from Peter announcing T'Challa would be visiting in June, nothing really major came up. And then, out of nowhere, Peter was asked the question he knew he would be asked.

"So... you and Wanda seem to be getting along well, huh?"

"Yeah, actually," Peter said, laughing lightly as he remembered all the shenanigans of yesterday. "We've... we've become fast friends. And she's a great person to be around."

Steve smiled in agreement. "I always thoroughly enjoy hanging out with Wanda. She's such a good person, and yet, the public never recognizes her for it."

"Do you think it's because she doesn't have a set name? Like Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, etcetera?" Peter asked.

Steve scoffed. "If it was because of that, we'd have rounded up all those morons and thrown them to the prairie. However... I hate to say it, but that could very well be it. Keep on treating her well, kid. She needs a good family, so let's make sure we give it to her."

"Yes sir," Peter nodded.

Silence fell as Steve got his coffee and Peter placed two pieces of toast into the toaster. And actually, Wanda was the next one to come to the kitchen.

"Morning Steve, morning Peter," she said, with a smile too.

"Good morning, Wanda!" Peter smiled, waving at her as he grabbed a glass from the cupboard.

"Morning, Wanda," Steve echoed.

Wanda gave both the boys a smile as she looked for something - she then brought up something she had been meaning to discuss with the captain. "Steve, did you know Peter ran the three mile run in ten minutes?"

Steve looked extremely impressed. "Wow, good on you kid!"

"I bet he could beat your personal best," Wanda said, singing that last part ‘mockingly’ at Steve with a smile plastered on her face.

Peter already was blushing - he didn't need to do it more.

"What's that? Steve's personal best is in jeopardy?" Sam said, seemingly appearing out of thin air from behind the counter.

"Ooh! Uh oh, cap'n!" Clint said, walking in with Natasha, like they had almost planned this.

Steve chuckled. "Alright then, I'll make you all a deal - but we'll wait till Bucky, Rhodey, and Vision get here."

When the three did get in the kitchen, Steve continued on. "Anyway... If Peter beats me in a one lap race, you all are free to do whatever you want for today. However, if he loses... we'll still do something, and then after, you all get the day off."

"Alright, I'm down," said Natasha. "You up, Pete?"

"Y-Yeah," Peter said shakily, "su-sure..."

"Settled," Steve said, shaking Peter's hand.

**-0-**

After breakfast was over, the nine Avengers made their way out to the track, and Peter and Steve stood on the front line, individually stretching.

"Please kid, pull out a surprise for us," Sam said, "because I would _really_ enjoy a three-day weekend."

"Will do my best, Mr. Wilson," said Peter, popping his back.

"No pressure kid, but if you lose," Bucky said, "I won't be happy. It's about time Steve got his ass kicked again."

Wanda lightly elbowed Bucky for his comment towards Peter - she knew he was only joking; it was if Peter knew or not that mattered. Vision stood to the side, not really seeing the point in all of this; then again, he was a robot. And also, he was set to carry the camera he had been given for the photo finish.

"Alright kiddo," Steve said, "you ready?"

"Mm-hmm," Peter nodded.

"Alright, I’ll be calling off the start!" Rhodey said, aiming one of his gloves in the air. "Vision, is your camera ready for the photo finish?"

"Yes, Colonel Rhodes," Vision nodded, adjusting the lens.

"Alrighty... one! Two! Three!"

With the count dropping to three, Steve and Peter took off running. And surprisingly, Peter wasn't immediately left in Steve's dust - as a matter of fact, he was keeping up quite nicely.

"Come on Peter!" Wanda yelled, trying her best to give the young Avenger some support.

"You got this Pete!" yelled Sam.

"Leave him in your dust, Parker!" Natasha called.

Peter was especially motivated by Wanda's call - it was the first one, and to him, it had the most meaning behind it. After all, she knew him the most out of anyone else in the crowd. Now, was that to say he disliked anyone there? No, of course not! He was just the closest with Wanda.

And also, Steve seemed to be quite surprised about how easily Peter was keeping up with him - he was running as fast as he could, and yet Peter was still keeping up with him... he already was going to give the Avengers the day off anyway, he just wanted to see how well Peter would do against him.

So far, the kid had impressed him. A lot.

And then, as he was keeping up with him, Peter somehow found a sudden burst of energy - and ran ahead of the captain. Steve was so surprised he almost stopped - he didn't, of course, and kept on running.

In the end, however, Peter and Steve ended up tying - an impressive feat nonetheless.

"Alright team, go have fun," Steve said, clapping Peter on the back. "Today's... a free day!"

"Woohoo!" the whole team cheered. Vision looked around curiously, before throwing his hands up to try and fit along with his teammates. After Steve warmly congratulated Peter, and he thanked him around seventeen times, Peter headed off with Wanda.

"Hey, Wanda!" Peter said. "You uh... would you like to hang out today?"

"Sure Peter," Wanda smiled. "Give me about an hour, and we'll go to one of my favorite places, okay?"

"Of course!" Peter said, smiling and giving a thumbs up.

**-0-**

As Peter was reading a book in his chair, he was caught off guard by a knock at his door. When he answered, it was Wanda, clothed in civilian attire.

"Ready to go?" she asked.

"Yep!" he answered, putting his book down and hopping up. "Where are we off to?"

"A local park I like to visit," said Wanda. "It's a beautiful place; I think you'll really like it."

"I'm sure I will," Peter smiled.

And with that, the two headed off for the park.

Little did they know that their day was about to go in a _much_ different direction...


	5. Chapter 5

When Peter got ready, he ran to catch up with Wanda, who was already waiting in the living room for him. "Ready to go?" she asked.

"Yeah!" Peter said, smiling at the prospect of getting to spend an afternoon with Wanda. "So, uh... this park; is it one I should be familiar with?"

"Probably not," Wanda said. "It's a quieter place in New York for sure. Plus, I don't know how much you've been up here, but it's more local around here than it would be in Queens."

Peter nodded, and followed her out the compound doors. As they did so, they saw Rhodey take off in his War Machine armor, presumably to answer a crime call somewhere else. Thankfully, he was going towards the opposite direction of the park, so it was nothing that they needed to be concerned about.

"Hope it's nothing too serious," Peter muttered.

"If they're sending in one Avenger, it shouldn't be," Wanda muttered. "But, it is Rhodey..."

The two chose to not focus on this topic, rather discussing smaller things, like what Peter should expect to happen over the summer at the compound. It would be mostly training and spending time with the team, but there would be the gems - movie nights, baking with Clint, rare moments where Natasha would have a laughing fit, game nights (those sounded like fun), all that jazz. It sounded like a blast.

Anyway, the two kept walking for about a mile, and then, they came to the park.

"Wow... this is really nice," Peter said, smiling.

"Isn't it? You can tell why it's one of my favorite places," Wanda said, taking in all the natural beauty around her.

The two walked a little ways down the cobblestone pathway, enjoying the solitude that they had been given by the park’s natural beauty.

"So, uh... I-I really don't know, if like, it's my place to ask..." Peter said nervously, "but... a-are Mr. Barton and Ms. Romanoff dating?"

Wanda giggled lightly. "They're not dating, Peter - they're married."

"O-Oh!" Peter said, lightly taken aback. "Wow... w-well, good for them! I won't say a word though. Even then, at school, they'd probably think I'm just writing fanfiction for them..."

"Trust me, they adore fanfiction between them," said Wanda, still smiling amusingly. "Well, most of it anyway… still can’t tell if Clint was bullshitting me or not."

Peter couldn't help but laugh at this comment; two master assassins that were married and enjoyed fanfiction. That was a new thing for sure!

However, even in the midst of all the fun they were having... the two spotted something odd in one of the alleyways adjacent to the park.

"What was that?" Wanda asked, observing the oddly dressed figure that had just walked into the alley.

"Don't know," Peter said. "Should we... s-should we check it out?"

"You don't have your costume though," Wanda gestured.

Peter lifted up his shirt to reveal his Spidey-suit underneath.

"...Okay, change in the bushes. I'll wait out here."

****-0-** **

When Peter changed into his Spider-suit, secluded safely by the bushes, he pulled his mask over his head and jumped out to join Wanda in finding out what the heck it was that they were going to be encountering.

"Okay, first off - should we call for backup?" Peter asked quietly.

"If we can't keep him under our grasp, probably," Wanda said. "One dude should be easy enough, though. But if this can be kept under-wraps, it's for the best it stays that way."

"Gotcha," Peter nodded.

When the two rounded the alley, however... they were not prepared for what they saw.

It was a bulky male, probably around six and a half feet, clothed in a white cloak and with blue chest and leg armor. He had a long silver sword sheathed at his side, and a shield was concealed underneath his cape. His hood covered most of his face, and what would have been exposed was concealed by a skull-themed mask.

"Good afternoon, Avengers," said the man - his voice was low and raspy, near robotic. "Pray tell, have I interested you at all today?"

"What is your name?" Wanda asked, her hands beginning to glow a deep scarlet.

"Alias - Taskmaster," Taskmaster said. "My real name matters not."

"Kinda does, bud," said Peter. "I mean, the cops have to have an accurate background check on all incoming inmates."

Taskmaster chuckled darkly. "That's a good joke, kid... cops haven't even got a clue that I exist."

"Well, looks like we're about to give them an introduction," Wanda said, charging up her powers.

Taskmaster drew his sword, and took his shield from behind his back. "I'd be honored to see you two try."

“You’re crazy, bro,” Peter said, shooting two webs out of his shooters and flinging himself towards Taskmaster who, shockingly, blocked Peter with his shield, having a reaction time that was close to Peter's own enhanced reflexes. Needless to say, Peter was surprised by this, but not deterred.

Wanda then stepped in, trying to catch Taskmaster in a hex she had shot towards him - but he easily avoided it, and charged forward to rush Wanda.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" Peter yelled, getting back up and shooting a web at Taskmaster.

He actually managed to secure him in a web, but it wasn't for much longer than a few seconds. Taskmaster easily broke free of the web's hold with his sword, and turned around to face Peter again.

"Not bad, kiddo," he muttered, smirking underneath the mask as he broke free of the web's hold. "My clients will be happy to hear about this information I've gathered - so much, so quickly."

"Who do you work for?" Peter demanded, trying to web up Taskmaster again.

"Not of particular importance," Taskmaster growled, "just know that-AH!"

He suddenly felt himself the victim of a particularly tight hold around his arms and waist, specifically from Wanda, who had grabbed him with her powers.

"Leave him alone," Wanda warned, "or you're going to have to fight to keep any part of your body from being broken."

Taskmaster roared as he tried to break free, finding the resistance was particularly strong in this case.

However, thanks to his enhanced super-strength, he was able to break free from Wanda's grasp - he then tossed his shield underneath her legs, which caused her to hit the ground with a thud.

"WANDA!" Peter yelled, immediately racing to try and help her - however, Taskmaster gave one last blow. It was a punch right to Peter's gut, which sent him staggering backwards and to the ground beneath him.

It was eerily similar to Peter’s own fighting tactics...

Taskmaster chuckled as he held up his arm, the magnetic pull from his wrist gauntlet bringing his shield back to him. "You two are only 18 and 16, yet you've put up more of a fight than most adults... I must say, I am impressed. I'll keep in touch."

"Go eat garbage, bone bag," Peter spat from the ground.

He personally __felt__ the smirk Taskmaster had underneath his facemask as he jumped up to the rooftops and sped away. Peter then quickly made his way over to Wanda, who was still on the ground.

"Hey, hey, you okay?" asked Peter gently.

"Y-Yes, Peter," said Wanda, propping herself up on her rear. "I'm fine... a-are you hurt?"

"Besides the gut punch, he really didn't go after me," he muttered. "And the shield-leg sweep was the most he did to you... ugh, who the heck even was that guy?"

"I don't know," said Wanda. "But... hopefully, we don't see him again, hmm?"

"Yeah, yeah totally," Peter nodded, smiling lightly underneath his mask. "Karen, how do our injuries look?"

" _ _Both you and Ms. Maximoff appear to be fine, save for a few minor injuries, which should only take a few hours to be completely healed up,__ " said the A.I.

"Good, good," Peter said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Hey... why don't you go get changed," said Wanda, "and we'll go treat ourselves to some good lunch, huh? I feel like we deserve it."

"Sounds like a plan," Peter chuckled. "I'm also down for dessert after."

Wanda smiled in return. Even though she and her friend had just had their butts kicked by Taskmaster, it didn't seem so bad now... what with Peter's natural optimism and all.

****-0-** **

When the two got back to the compound after a very nice lunch, along with sweet fro-yo for their dessert, they encountered Rhodey, who had just flown back in as they entered the grounds. "Mr. Rhodes!" Peter said, saluting the colonel.

"Saw you fly off earlier,” Wanda said. “Was it anything serious?" 

"Not really," said Rhodey, "but in the process, I got a lead on Viper. I think we'll have this person pinned in a month or two, the way it's looking."

"Good," Wanda said. "I'll be waiting for the day we take them down."

"C-Can I ask something, Mr. Rhodes?" asked Peter. "Sure kid, what is it?" the War Machine asked. "H-Have you ever heard of a villain named 'Taskmaster'?"

Rhodey's face scrunched up underneath his helmet. "Can't say I have... why?"

"Well, see, the thing is-" Peter began.

Suddenly, a beeping sounded out from underneath Rhodey's canopy, and it turned out to be an urgent message. "Sorry kiddo, gotta run. Been nice talking to you two."

And with that, Rhodey shot off and back into the sky.

Peter sighed, looking downward. Wanda put a hand on his shoulder.

"Piece of advice - you ever need someone to talk to, go to Clint or Steve," said Wanda, "or you can come to me. Not that anyone else isn’t good to talk to, everyone’s pretty good at it - we're the most free. You could also go to Vision if you have a question about something. I don't want you to feel like we ignore you; the Avengers just get busy, and sometimes, we have to leave in a hurry."

"Oh, it's no trouble, Wanda," Peter said. "Thank you for letting me know, though. I'll keep that in mind."

Wanda smiled and nodded to her friend. "Well, I'm gonna go try to get through my book for the rest of the afternoon. It was good hanging out with you, Peter."

"Even if we got our butts handed to us?" Peter asked.

She giggled lightly. "Yes, even though that did happen."

As Wanda walked away, Peter couldn't help but smile to himself...

If he ever got asked a question about Wanda by one of his friends, he would brag her up like there was no tomorrow.


	6. Chapter 6

Clint was making his way down the hallway on his way to go get a snack from the fridge, when he ran into Wanda, who tried to cover a slight scowl on her face from one of her injuries (that leg sweep from Taskmaster was surprisingly painful) when she saw him.

"Cl-Clint! Hi!" Wanda said, as casually as she could without giving anything away.

However, Clint had a certain parental instinct when it came to the scarlet-clad young woman - he was, very quickly, able to identify that she was trying to hide something from him.

"Where does it hurt?" he asked, folding his arms.

Wanda sighed, pointing to her knees.

"Jeez kid," Clint said, looking at the bruise she already had forming on her knees. "What happened? Did you fall in the park or something? Don't tell me this was Peter."

"It wasn't!" Wanda immediately said, wanting to quench any suspicion Clint had of her new friend. "We were... we got into a tussle."

"Street thugs?" asked the archer. "Well... I mean, that doesn't really explain the bruises."

"It wasn't," said Wanda, sighing as she sat down. "It was someone calling themselves 'Taskmaster'."

The young woman then gave as good of a description as she could about her attacker, still completely confused as to where he came from, then ran off to.

"Hmm… Well, tell you what," Clint said, patting her shoulder. "You go off and get some rest, okay? You'll feel better if you take a short nap too. I'll talk to Nat and Steve about this whole thing, and we'll try and track down this Taskmaster."

"Thank you, Clint," said Wanda softly, giving a soft smile.

She then hobbled off to go get into her bed, and when she had kicked off her flats after entering the room, she climbed underneath her covers and shut her eyes. However, about twenty minutes after she had closed her eyes, she got a text message that woke her up.

It was from Peter. It read: _Sorry things went so poorly_ and _I hope this doesn't make you hate me_

Wanda, as quickly as she could type, wrote her reply.

_Of course not! It didn't go poorly - the lunch/walk was wonderful - W_

_The Taskmaster part, though, I could've done without, lol - W_

Peter, who was eased by this reply, began to type.

_Oh thank God lol - P_

_Hope we can hang out again soon! :) Without Taskmaster, of course - P_

_Gladly. :) - W_

**-0-**

Natasha walked down the stairs leading to the kitchen, huffing lightly to herself - the phone call she was just on had eaten up (no pun intended) a very good portion of her lunch break, so she hoped she could at least get something. Thankfully, her schedule seemed quite empty for the rest of the day, so she could probably get a good meal in along with some rest.

When she got to the kitchen, her spirits were immediately brightened by the sight she saw - her husband.

"Why hello there, Mrs. Barton," Clint joked, smirking.

"And to you too, Mr. Hawkeye," smiled Natasha, walking over to the fridge to get the ingredients for her planned sandwich.

"So, what's got my lovely little bug down at this time?" he asked gently.

"Stupid phone call took too damn long," Natasha huffed, cutting her peanut butter sandwich in half so that, by the off chance Nick Fury was around, he wouldn't steal it.

Clint nodded in sympathy - he had just gotten done with a salad, so he was able to chill with Natasha for a little bit while he was waiting for his next task to roll around.

"Hey, Tash... have you ever heard about someone called 'Taskmaster'?" he asked.

"No, why?" she asked, taking a bite of her sandwich.

"Well, some bastard with that name attacked Peter and Wanda when they went out for lunch," said Clint.

"What?" Natasha said, her eyes darting up at her husband. "A-Are they okay?"

"Yes - as far as I know it was just bruises," he said, putting his hands on her shoulders gently to calm any fear she had for the youngest Avengers' safety. "Evidently, though, this guy had powers or some sort of super-tech."

"I already want to kill him," she said dangerously. "No one touches Wanda and gets away with it on my watch."

"On our watch, Tash," said Clint, smiling gently. "We can both be the parental figure here."

Her tension faded at this comment, and was replaced with a gentle nod as she went back to eating her peanut butter sandwich.

However, she couldn't help to shake that name... _Taskmaster..._

Why did that name seem oddly familiar?

**-0-**

**_Some days later..._ **

Peter couldn't believe it - today marked exactly two weeks since he had joined the Avengers. He had woken up a little later than usual today, but that was of no matter. He hopped into his shower, got dried off and changed, and walked out of his room.

And then, surprise surprise, he walked out right before his neighboring room door opened, and a yawning Wanda stepped out in her Iron Man themed-jammies.

"Morning Wanda! Those are some awesome pajamas," Peter observed with a geeky smile.

"Oh, good morning Peter; thank you very much," Wanda smiled, rubbing her eyes. "Steve thinks they're 'cute'."

"Well, I mean... he's not wrong," Peter chuckled. "They are pretty cartoon-y, which makes them cute in turn."

Wanda smiled at him, and the two continued on their trek down the hall in comfortable silence.

"So, uh.. what exactly is today's meeting about again?" asked Peter.

"No one really knows," said Wanda, "and those who do are tight lipped. Apparently Director Fury is coming, so it is evidently important."

"Nick Fury?! Oh man, this is... wow, this is gonna be awesome," Peter said, breathing a breath of excitement. “I-I’ve never met Director Fury before. This should be awesome.”

Wanda nodded, smiling tenderly. "Hey, wanna see something cool?"

"Sure!"

Wanda then moved her feet rhythmically in a brushing motion, and pranced around in a circle around Peter. When she finished her little dance, she struck a pose.

"Wow! Wh-What did you just do? That was so cool!" Peter said.

"It's just a little tap combo I've been rehearsing," Wanda said, brushing her strands of hair that weren't in her bun back behind her shoulders. "I overheard you singing last Saturday, so I thought I might as well try out tapping... even if it's in my sneakers."

Peter stifled a chuckle. "Darn... sorry about that."

"It's cool," said Wanda, giggling herself. “You sounded wonderful, if it means anything.”

Peter blushed gently. “T-That’s a really sweet complement.”

Suddenly, Peter received a text from his group chat - it was a text from MJ.

_Have a good day losers *middle finger emoji* - MJ_

_Thanks MJ! You too! :) - P.P._

Peter smiled down at the photo his crush had sent - she was in the library (at 8:30 AM), obviously, and she looked purely adorable.

"Has someone got a _crush_?" Wanda asked, drawing out that last word almost painfully.

"I-I, uh-w-what are you-huh?" he suddenly said, sliding his phone back into his sweatpants' pocket.

Wanda, however, didn't pry; but that _smirk -_ Peter knew she knew, and there was nothing he could do about it. Dammit. He could keep his identity a secret, but not keep his crush a secret?! …On second thought, it was actually harder to keep his crush on MJ secret. He became completely flustered whenever he brought her up, so naturally he was bad at hiding it.

He now felt a bit better with himself.

Anyway, when he walked into the breakfast room with Wanda, he first saw Clint, Natasha, and Steve, then Bucky and Sam, then Rhodey and Vision...

And finally, Director Fury.

"Good morning, Spider-Man," said Fury, putting down his biscuit.

"N-Nick Fury?" Peter suddenly said.

"It's okay, he doesn't bite," said Clint, smirking that he managed to get a giggle out of Natasha with that one.

"Most of the time, anyway, Barton," said Fury, turning his head briefly before returning to face Peter. "Anyway... how's life at the compound suiting you?"

"B-been pretty nice," Peter said quickly. "Made a lot of friends too."

"Good, good," Fury said. "Is Ms. Maximoff one of them?"

"Y-Yes! Definitely!" Peter said.

"Well, that way no one can hurt you," the director smirked, turning to face the group that had formed behind him. "She could rip any of you all a new one, hope y'all know that."

The entire team let out a chuckle; good natured, of course. "Kid's got gumption; both of them do," said Bucky, smiling.

"Well, you'll bring that moxie to the field soon enough, Parker," said Fury. "But for no, gonna need you all to follow me to the meeting room."

"Are we gonna skip breakfast?" asked Peter.

"No, of course not," Natasha said. "This meeting shouldn't take more than fifteen minutes."

"And you all can have an extra fifteen minutes before our activities," said Steve.

"Oh, thank God," said Rhodey. "I always take my time with my Cap'n Crunch, you all know this."

And with that, the full team of Avengers stepped into the conference room for the meeting.

They were about to learn something… shocking, to say the least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a shorter chapter, but get ready for a big twist next chapter! <3 Love you guys so much!!


	7. Chapter 7

Nick Fury made a motion of gesturing to the large table in the center of the room, implying the Avengers should sit down. Steve, Clint, and Natasha took up three seats together on one side, and Wanda sat next to Natasha. Peter, figuring he should stick with people who he knew, sat next to Wanda. Bucky, Sam, Rhodey, and Vision followed suit by filing onto the other side of the table.

"Now, I wanted to inform you all of something," said Fury. "This is a big deal for us too."

"Are we finally getting that pool table?" asked Rhodey hopefully.

"...No, Rhodey, we are not finally getting that pool table," said the director.

Rhodey looked down sadly.

"But we are getting something," he added. "Any of y'all know what a sleeper agent is?"

"An agent who remains in a place for a long period of time before accomplishing their mission," Steve said. "...Why?"

"Damn, Rogers, thought you'd have pieced it together by now," Fury chuckled. "We've had a sleeper agent stationed for a while now."

"He got a good codename?" asked Natasha.

“I certainly think so,” Fury smirked. 

But his next word...

It sent a chill up nearly half the room's spines.

"Taskmaster."

Peter's eyes suddenly shot up, and almost immediately, Wanda turned to look at him, a similar look of shock in her eyes. "D-Director Fury?" Peter suddenly piped up, raising his hand like a student in a classroom.

"Yes, Mr. Parker?"

"S-Some guy named Taskmaster attacked Wanda and I last week."

Fury's eye suddenly went from excited to concerned. "The hell? A-Are you pulling my chain? He never reported that."

"He's not, Director," said Wanda. "I would show you my bruise from where his shield swept me off my legs, but it healed recently."

Steve suddenly turned to face the two youngest Avengers, and along with everyone else, seemed extremely concerned. "Why didn't you two tell us?"

"They told me," said Clint. "Well, Wanda told me the whole story. Cap, you can't blame them for wanting to keep quiet about this."

"I don't blame them," Steve said, "but I do want you two to know you can report anything to me, okay?"

The two nodded sheepishly.

"Don't feel bad, kiddos," said Bucky reassuringly. "I can't blame you for being scared of Steve. That face of his is quite a sight, to say the least..."

"For the collective good of everyone in this room, Buck - shut up," Steve chuckled, smiling at Bucky, who laughed right along.

"Peter, Wanda," Vision said, looking at the two, "do you both feel comfortable with talking about the incident later, so that we may gather details on this... 'Taskmaster'?"

"Absolutely," Peter said. "W-Well, I-I just speak for me, and Wanda, i-if you don't-"

"Relax, Peter," Wanda giggled. "I'm okay with it."

Fury, however, seemed to suddenly shift in appearance - like he had just seen a ghost.

"What's the matter, director?" asked Sam concernedly.

"I just remembered," Fury said, "...Taskmaster told me, yesterday, he'd be stopping by the compound today to ‘introduce himself’."

Natasha suddenly received an alert on her phone that the front gate had been opened by a security employee key card. She didn't think too much of it for about a second, but then, she pulled up the security footage...

The security guards were both out cold in front of the gate.

"Taskmaster's in the courtyard," said Natasha.

"Grab what weapons you all can," said Steve, getting up. "We're gonna need force to take out Taskmaster."

As Peter and Wanda stood up, however, Clint put his hand on the young woman's shoulder. "You two stay here. We don't want you to have to face Taskmaster again."

"We can take him!" Peter said confidently.

"And we know that," Natasha said calmly. "But we can't risk you two having a run in with him again. God knows what he'd do for a rematch."

And with that, the other eight in the room sped out of the room to go and confront Taskmaster, leaving Peter and Wanda by themselves.

"Dammit," Peter muttered under his breath. “Being benched _sucks_.”

"You're not the only one who thinks this," Wanda assured him, her Sokovian accent returning in full force - she was upset, clearly.

**-0-**

Taskmaster was casually walking the path that led up to the Avengers compound; after easily knocking out the two guards, he felt quite proud of his work. He had access to the building, yes, but where was the fun in just walking in?

However, as he neared the door, he found his way was blocked by four people - Fury, Steve, Natasha, and Clint all stood between him and the entrance.

"Well well well, Fury," Taskmaster chuckled, "I didn't expect such a formal greeting."

"Shut ya damn mouth, Masters," said Fury. "Why the hell did you attack those kids in the alleyway?"

"I've come for the youngsters," said Taskmaster, dodging Fury’s question. "I want to see if they are worthy of a rematch."

"You'll have to kill us to get to those two," said Natasha, pulling out her pistol from her pocket.

"We're giving you to the count of three to get the hell out of here," said Clint. "One... two... THREE!"

And with that, Natasha fired her gun right at Taskmaster's head...

But it went right through him.

"The hell?" Natasha muttered.

Suddenly, a loud knock was heard from behind them - when they turned around, they were briefly met by a flash of light, before it shut off...

To reveal Taskmaster.

He had used a hologram as a distraction so he could easily slip in, and had barricaded the door securely with one of the cabinets in the hallway.

"Don't bother reaching out, your comm signals will have way too much interference," he called out to them. "I'll find those two before you can even get in!"

And with that, as the Avengers and Fury tried to break down the door and get the cabinet to move, Taskmaster began to make his way down the hall.

**-0-**

Wanda and Peter casually sat in the meeting room, just sighing and waiting out the initial discourse going on outside the room and beyond. The two were both bored to death, but they were still tossing jokes and small talk back and forth.

...Actually, they were both pacing around the room. Wanda initially had asked Peter to stop, but pacing was really all they could do right now.

They really just wanted to be part of the action.

And they would get their chance - Friday's voice, albeit very cluttered, soon came on the speaker in the room.

"Friday?" Wanda asked. "What's going on up there?"

" _Taskmaster broke- ***STATIC*** -making his way- ***STATIC*** find you- ***STATIC*** HIDE!_"

The message sent a chill down their spines.

But neither were intent on hiding.

"We gotta show Taskmaster that we're the Avengers," said Peter. "We won't hide just because he kicked our butts one time."

Wanda smirked. "You read my mind, Peter."

Peter chuckled lightly, the boy-ish smile on his face lighting up Wanda's heart. "Well then... let's go get our rematch."

And with that, the two stepped out into the hallway to find the sleeper agent and give him what's worth.

**-0-**

Taskmaster kept his shield on his arm's gauntlet as he strolled casually down the hallways of the Avengers Compound, feeling very pleased with himself. He had already managed to allure Vision, escape from Bucky and Sam, as well as fool Rhodey. SHIELD tech came in quite handy...

And then, he found the two he was looking for.

Peter and Wanda, standing right in front of him in their pj's, only had web shooters and magic to defend themselves. Then again, however, that wasn't much more than what they had last time they fought him.

"Well, it seems as if I've finally found you two," Taskmaster chuckled, drawing his sword. "Bout time."

"Go to hell," Wanda said, heating up her magic.

"Sorry, it's not my time yet," Taskmaster growled.

"What do you even want with us?" Peter asked, exasperated.

"An organization hired me to infiltrate SHIELD and see who was worth recruiting," he explained vaguely. "You two came out on top."

"Would be honored if you didn't try to hurt us," Peter said.

"No pain, no gain," Taskmaster said, his skull mask growing more and more frightening by the minute. "That's not my motto; that's... someone else's."

Wanda had officially had enough of this jabbering from whatever this guy was - she conjured a hex that met his shield, which was somehow resistant to her magic; Peter then shot a web at the sword in his left hand, and it managed to put it on the ground for a second.

Again, though, only for a second; Taskmaster immediately recovered it, and yanked it back up and shook the webbing off.

"I must say, you two do not cease to impress me," he muttered. "I can see why my agency has a six-figure salary awaiting either of you should you join."

"I'm a teenager!" Peter exclaimed. "What would I even do with a six-figure salary?"

"Teenager things?" Taskmaster shrugged.

"Stop talking," Wanda interjected, grabbing the man with her magic and tossing him back into the wall. He hit it with a loud "OOF!" and fell to his knees momentarily.

"Damn... that was a good one," he chuckled. "You kids are really something."

Suddenly, Steve and his crew of three rounded the corner, and for the first time they came face-to-face with Taskmaster.

"Tony Masters, again I must ask - the hell are you doing?!" Fury exclaimed.

"Could ask you the same thing, _Nick,_ " Taskmaster shot back.

"We got a nice, cozy cell on Rikers Island waiting for you," Clint said, drawing an arrow.

Taskmaster, however, chuckled underneath his mask.

"You better find another occupant," he chuckled. "Afraid I'm not available right now."

A smoke bomb suddenly went off that sent a foul odor throughout the hallway, and a few shoulders were shoved as the Avengers fought their way through the smoke. Eventually, Wanda managed to open a window pane and toss the smoke outside. When it was clear, however, everyone could see that Taskmaster was gone.

"Damn," Fury muttered. "I-I... I’m honestly sorry, y’all. Masters seemed like a decent enough guy; really didn't expect him to turn on us like that."

"We know, director," said Peter. "It's not your fault."

"We'll get him eventually," Wanda said.

"Are you two okay?" asked Steve, facing the two youngest Avengers. "Did he hurt you at all?"

"Actually... no," Wanda said, slightly surprised at her own words. "H-He didn't hurt either of us."

"That's a first," Peter chuckled lightly.

"You two go get some breakfast, and then some rest," Natasha said, strictly but with a tone of care. "We'll get this mess sorted out."

"Please don't be mad at Director Fury," Peter said. "It's not his fault, Ms. Romanoff."

Natasha smiled, as did the three men surrounding her. "Oh, alright, because you said so..."

And with that, Peter and Wanda walked off to go to the kitchen for their well deserved meal, while the others stayed back to figure out the best way to handle the Taskmaster situation.

However, as the sleeper agent made his way off of the grounds while Peter and Wanda enjoyed a leisurely stroll together towards the cafeteria, he made a silent oath.

He _would_ confront Peter Parker and Wanda Maximoff again...

And he would _not_ fail in his mission next time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so so so much for the outpouring of love on this story - it's my most viewed, commented on, and kudos'd story to date!! I can't tell y'all how much I love you guys. <3
> 
> Oh btw: wanna chat Marvel with me? Or story ideas? Or just life in general? Come visit me on Tumblr @caitlinsnow-yayyy !! I'm always open to chat! <3


	8. Chapter 8

During their breakfast, Wanda and Peter tried their best to avoid discussing Taskmaster. He was something that neither of them really fancied talking about; he was more of a nightmare now than before. The dude was, hopefully, gone for good after infiltrating the Avengers compound... but neither of them really knew for sure.

Neither really believed that anyway.

Anyway, the discussion slowly became more and more lighthearted as the two carried on with their conversation.

"So, been practicing your singing lately?" asked Wanda.

"Yeah," Peter nodded bashfully. "I gotta say, I really enjoy singing. It's quite fun to do. I haven't done it in so long - used to do it as a kid while I was being silly, hah."

"That’s great, Peter," Wanda smiled. "Keep it up. I know you'll be amazing - and sooner than you think."

Peter nodded gratefully. "Thank you Wanda. And, uhm, how are you with your dancing?"

"Eh, I'm getting... better," she said. "I'm debating on asking Natasha to give me some pointers..."

Peter nearly choked on his food. "Ms. Romanoff can tap dance?"

"Along with ballet, jazz, ballroom, salsa - you name it, she knows it," Wanda smiled. "At least, that's what Clint said."

"I'd bet Mr. Barton doesn't often lie about Ms. Romanoff," chuckled Peter. Wanda continued to smile as she sipped her tea - she had just eaten her last blueberry, so she just decided to wait until Peter got finished before she did anything.

"Yo, Parker! Wanda!" a voice called out.

Sam and Bucky were walking past the dining hall, and the latter was holding a basketball. "You two wanna go dos-on-dos?" Sam asked.

"Sure!" Peter said. "W-Wanda? Would you like to?"

"Of course," Wanda smirked, aiming an eye. "I'll kick your ass again, Bucky."

"Ooh!" Peter said childishly. Bucky smirked, and patted Wanda and Peter on the shoulder as they walked off to change into their gym attire - pajamas weren't the best gear for basketball.

**-0-**

The game was on - and Peter was proving to be quite the basketball player.

They all agreed to play to seven, and currently it was 6-5 with Peter and Wanda ahead - Bucky and Sam were both impressed and annoyed. They held a spotless record for basketball in the Avengers, but Peter and Wanda seemed to want to change that. The cruel youngsters.

"Alright, last play," said Peter. "We get this, we win."

"Ah-ah, two more," Bucky chuckled. "You all won't be winning."

"Try us," Wanda smirked. "Peter and I are an unstoppable duo."

"You're about to take your first L," Peter added, smirking.

And with that, the match started again - and, believe it or not, Peter and Wanda managed to defeat Sam and Bucky, effectively killing their spotless record.

"Damn," Bucky muttered, smirking. “Good game, kiddos.”

“Thanks!” Peter said, fist bumping Wanda. "Hey, that really was awesome. Great game guys!"

"Great game," Sam chuckled, shaking Peter's hand. "But we'll get you next time!"

"You imagine," Wanda chuckled, saluting the two as she and Peter strutted out, leaving behind the basketball.

"...Those two kids have too much energy," Bucky chuckled.

“Both are almost adults,” Sam reminded him.

"And we've got a married couple and two 100-year old's on the team," Bucky said. "We probably have the widest age length between employees of any place in America."

Sam chuckled, nodding. "You wanna go one on one?"

"Nah, I want plums," said Bucky.

**-0-**

Peter and Wanda had gone to the latter's room for a little while they waited for the clock to roll around to lunchtime so they could go get some food - the two youngest Avengers had something in common, you see - they both loved food more than anyone else on the team. If you gave either of them food, they'd be as happy as can be.

However, right now, Peter was educating Wanda on the art of memes. Being mid-June, the current biggest meme was "Arthur's Fist", but there were still some Caveman Spongebob memes around.

She had never felt so close to a teammate on the friendship level. "How have I never heard of these?" Wanda asked, a near-permanent smile stuck on her face. "These are so cool!"

"I know, right?" Peter laughed. "The art of memes is something that has truly blessed our world."

"I guess this also explains why Sam says 'yeet' all the time now," she smiled.

"I'm already impressed," he chuckled. Peter then moved over to the edge of her bed, and sat down on it. He let out a quiet, but audible, sigh as he plopped down and stared out the window. It was cloudy today - fitting for the mood he found himself jumping back and forth from.

Wanda sat down next to him; she knew exactly what he was thinking about. She was thinking about it too. She sighed, putting a hand on his shoulder and trying to provide some comfort.

"Taskmaster can't hurt you, you're too strong," said Wanda. "And besides, I won't let him."

Peter smiled softly. "He'd have to go through a power house, that's for sure... I just can't stop thinking about it. What could a bounty hunter want so badly with a sixteen-year old that he'd go behind Director Fury's back just to, basically, say a few words to me? And besides... what if he wanted to k-"

"Let me stop you there," Wanda said, putting her hand on his knee. "You're too young to be thinking about stuff like that, okay? You don't need to let that put you down, because it will. If you can shut it out, it would be best to do so. We'll not have to confront Taskmaster again at least for some time, so we don't need to worry about him. You've always got Someone watching over you, y'know?"

"Yeah, I know," Peter nodded. "It's just... the thought won't leave me that he has more malicious intentions than he lets on."

Wanda nodded sympathetically, and began to continue her attempts at comforting the young teen.

"Peter, you're a teenager," she said, "and truth be told, you're the most polite, gentle, and amazing teenager I've seen. And teenage boys don't need to be thinking about a bounty hunter that may be after them, especially during the summer - they need to be thinking about hanging out with their friends, their crushes, and just... having a not-bad time."

Peter seemed to perk up at this - presumably because he was thinking about his crush, MJ.

"Hey, c'mon," Wanda said, looking at her clock on her nightstand. "It's almost lunchtime. Let's go hit up the town."

Peter smiled, and got up. "I'll go get changed."

Wanda beamed with pride as Peter walked out; the young man's confidence had returned. Boys were a complex (but extremely lovable) thing to Wanda - but she seemed to have this one figured out.

**-0-**

"Where did you want to go?" Peter asked, walking down the streets with his new bestie.

"I was thinking, maybe some sort of pizza place?" Wanda said. "I haven't had pizza in two weeks."

"How have you survived?" Peter asked. Wanda giggled, shrugging lightly.

As the two continued walking, Wanda had a semi-spring to her step. Peter smirked as he watched the young Avenger unconsciously express her joy through walking.

"Those dance lessons must be fun, huh?" he asked.

"H-Huh? Oh oh, yes, they are!" Wanda smiled. "Tap dancing is so fun. But without the right shoes it's soft and not as loud as I would like."

"Let's hope you don't have a downstairs neighbor," Peter said, chuckling.

"No, thankfully," Wanda smirked. "I’d be dead if I woke someone up at night."

"I just can't see anyone doing anything bad to you," Peter said. "You're too nice!"

"Awww," Wanda blushed, putting her hand over her heart. She was so happy she had not only found her new passion, but a new friend she could care about.

"Oh hey, we're here!" Peter said.

The two stepped inside, got their table, and ordered their drinks. However, very soon after, Peter seemed to see someone that nearly made him choke on his soda.

"Something wrong Peter?" asked Wanda.

"Nonono," he said, before continuing. "I just… I-I think I s-saw MJ."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a bit shorter - my apologies, all! But we're fixing to enter the good good stuff :D
> 
> My tumblr's @caitlinsnow-yayyy if you wanna chat story ideas, request a one shot, or just talk Marvel in general! Love you all!


	9. Chapter 9

Wanda gasped, with a small smile mixed in with her shock. "Like, your crush, MJ?"

"Y-Yeah," Peter nervously admitted.

"Go over and say hi!" she encouraged. "I'm sure that MJ would love to see you."

"O-Oh, I-I don't know," Peter said, "sh-she looks kinda busy..."

"Peter, she's with just one other person," Wanda said, deadpan."If she's busy then we're busy."

Peter sighed. "Alright, fine, I'll go talk to her..."

Wanda smiled, and clapped as quietly as she could. "That's the spirit! Go get her, Peter!"

Peter gave a faint, yet nervous smile, and walked over to see his crush. He tried to act his best that he hadn’t just seen them from afar, and that he had only just noticed them. "H-Hey, MJ! Oh, Betty, hey!"

"Hey Peter!" said Betty, waving happily.

"Sup, loser," MJ said - the gal had such an interesting way of showing affection.

"Did you all not bring Ned?" he asked, taking the seat that MJ had offered him.

"Well, he didn't wanna come since he figured you wouldn't be coming," Betty smiled. "He's so wonderful... what a guy! I got lucky."

Peter chuckled - he could almost hear Wanda silently laughing from where she was at, due to the fact that he and MJ looked to both be smiling and laughing from that distance.

"Who'd you come with?" Betty asked. "Did you bring... an Avenger?"

"Y-Yeah, actually," he whispered, pointing to Wanda. "She's right over there."

Betty nearly went into fangirl mode - she didn't know her moniker, but she knew that the scarlet-magic girl was definitely up there in terms of her favorite Avengers. After asking Peter if it was okay to go ask for a picture (and getting several yeses), she walked over, and left Peter and MJ alone.

"So... how's this summer's ‘Stark Internship’?" asked MJ nonchalantly.

"It’s... it's great!" Peter smiled. "I-I've been hit a few times-"

"By who?" MJ suddenly asked, out of nowhere. "Tell me who."

Peter was shocked - she had never shown this much concern for him... what happened? "Uh, uh... th-this bounty hunter... went rogue on Nick Fury, and attacked me and Wanda."

Peter heard MJ mutter some very choice words under her breath. "You tell me when you see that son of a bitch next. I'll help you take him out... of-or like, y'know... wh-whatever."

The spider-styled hero couldn't help but beam at how wonderful MJ could be. He knew he chose well. "Thank you MJ, that... that means a lot."

"Y-Yeah, you're uh... yeah," MJ nodded, suddenly appearing nervous and bashful.

Betty suddenly came back, seeming as happy as could be. "Oh my God, your friend Wanda is so sweet and kind! Peter, you seriously make the sweetest friends!"

"Aww, thanks Betty!" Peter smiled. "But it seems our food is here... catch you gals later!"

"Later, Peter," MJ said, slightly faint, but still audible.

"Bye Peter!" said Betty, waving happily.

After Peter got back to his table, Wanda was nearly tap dancing underneath the table out of excitement. "Did you two have a good talk? What was it about? Tell me everything! Talk to me Peter!"

"Woah, woah, easy Wanda!" Peter laughed jokingly. "Let's enjoy our food first, then we can talk, okay?"

"Okay," Wanda said; she was so happy for Peter. He deserved a good girl like MJ...

**-0-**

As Peter and Wanda walked back to the Avengers compound, both of them feeling extremely happy after their lunch where they had encountered MJ, they noticed something a little... out of the ordinary outside of the compound - it was a sleek black Quinjet.

Peter then felt like kicking himself as he realized what it was for; today was June 12th! T'Challa's visiting day!

"Oh, shoot, the king's here!" Peter said, jumping a little.

"T'Challa?" asked Wanda. "Oh yeah, today was his visiting day wasn't it?"

"It was!" Peter said. "Did I tell Cap? Oh gosh I hope I told Cap..."

"You did, don't worry," Wanda smiled. "C'mon, let's go introduce you to the king."

Peter nodded nervously. Even though he'd once been on T'Challa's side, fighting in the Avengers Civil War (and by the way, that was resolved in Siberia when Tony, Steve, Bucky, and T’Challa detained Zemo together), the king of Wakanda still did intimidate him - The Black Panther was no joke.

"Alright, alright... let's go see the king, yeah," Peter said to himself, nodding a million miles an hour and wringing his hands together.

And a few minutes after they got inside, they found who they were looking for - laughter rang out from his stomach, and Clint was beside him, nearly in the same position.

"Wh-Why have I never listened to dad jokes before?!" T'Challa uproariously laughed. "You are the master of them, Clint!"

"Hell yeah! The only title I've ever wanted!" Clint said, throwing up his arms victoriously.

"What did we just walk in on?" Peter asked Wanda - all of a sudden the king didn't seem so intimidating anymore.

"Just Clint being Clint," Wanda smiled, before clearing her throat. The king and the archer quickly composed themselves, and the former shook hands with Peter.

"It is good to finally meet you, Mr. Parker," said T'Challa. "We didn't exactly get to meet during the airport fight."

"Y-Yeah, good to meet you too, Mr. King!" said Peter, before mentally kicking himself. "I-I mean King T'Challa, sir, sorry." He then bowed awkwardly, but the king stopped him.

"It is alright," T'Challa smiled. "Come, let us head to the meeting - we need to hear what Captain Rogers has to say."

“Cap’s giving a meeting?” asked Wanda.

“Yep - and this is supposed to be big,” Clint said. “C’mon all, let’s head over there.”

And with that, the four walked off to the meeting room to go hear Steve give the team a status report that would set them on a brand new course.

**-0-**

"Alright team, I want to, first off, thank King T'Challa for being here," Steve said, "and taking time to help us on this mission."

The king gave a nod to the captain as a small round of applause commenced.

"Now, onto other matters - we've found Viper," said Steve.

"Woah," Peter muttered. "That's... this is a big deal, Captain!"

"It is," Steve said, nodding. "And for that reason - we'll be heading to Siberia to extract her from her terrorist operations."

"That's a long ass distance," Sam muttered. "So who all's coming?"

"We need all the hands we can get," Steve said. “All of us are going together.”

“She’s that dangerous?” asked Wanda.

“Well, this terrorist empire that Viper runs claims to be responsible for at least thirty two different assassinations - all pretty big deals where they come from,” Natasha informed the team.

"This terrorist chick got a name?" asked Rhodey.

"Ophelia Sarkissian," said Natasha. "She manufactures poison that disappears almost immediately, and is undetectable in autopsy reports. Theoretically, she could be behind _thousands_ of deaths and no one would know. She definitely has earned her ‘Viper’ codename."

"Should be Sar _-hiss-_ ian," chuckled Clint. He earned several glares (the sharpest of which came from his wife), but he got a chuckle out of Peter, Wanda, and T'Challa. At least it wasn't an all dead crowd...

"...Anyway," Steve continued, "tomorrow, we will be leaving for Siberia in the early morning, around 0800 hours. I'd suggest you go ahead and begin packing, because we may be there for a week - but hopefully, no more than that. Any questions?"

No one seemed to have any.

"Great; meeting adjourned," he said. The Avengers, one by one, filed out of the room, leaving only Peter and Wanda.

"You okay, Peter?" she asked softly.

"Yeah... just, not the greatest memories of Siberia, y'know? With the airport battle and all... and how I knocked down Captain America... and you," he said, sighing and putting his head on his hand.

"Well, we both got even," Wanda said, patting his shoulder, and smiling softly to let him know she was sincere. "And hey - we're such good friends now! And Steve really likes you - everyone here does. So we're all good! It's okay to have bad memories, but try to push them out in favor of the ones you're making now. Okay?"

"Y-Yeah, yeah, you're right - like always," Peter said, chuckling before looking up at his friend. "Thanks Wanda. You really are the best."

"No trouble, Peter," smiled Wanda. "Now, c'mon. Let's go pack, and then we can have some fun before the days out - I may even show you some of what I've picked up! Kay?"

"Alrighty," Peter said, standing up and following his Avenger best friend out of the room, a smile adorning both of their faces.

However...

There was one thing that none of the team had noticed. The security camera had been hacked into...

By none other than Taskmaster himself. 

He had managed to slip into the meeting room on his way out, and install a bug in the wiring that gave him full visual and audio access to the room. He had listened carefully and taken every note he felt necessary... especially on Peter and Wanda.

He chuckled from inside his dark lair... those two weren't out of his grip just yet.

"Seems I've got a flight to make," Taskmaster said, chuckling darkly underneath his mask as he readied his phone to make some important calls. "I think it's time I finally complete my first and last task from SHIELD - and take down Spider-Man, and... that scarlet freak, whatever her superhero name is."

And with that, Taskmaster walked off, preparing himself for his next mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments feed the author's poor soul, as do kudos!! <3


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!! Just a short notice, this story will be taking a bit of a backseat during the Christmas season as I work on some other Christmas stories. But rest assured, we'll still be getting updates!! I've finished this story and have no plans to stop updating! <3

As Taskmaster was plotting his trip to Siberia, Peter was packing for his own trip to the country. He sighed as he threw in all of the clothes he felt were necessary (and he wasn't under packing; this wasn't his first trip.)... being an Avenger, he imagined, carried a lot of unexpected business trips with it. He guessed this wouldn't be his last either.

"Well... at least, there's gotta be some fun stuff to do in Siberia, right?" Peter said, near enough to where his phone could hear him.

" _Yeah, there's all sorts of cool stuff!_ " said Ned from his phone. " _Like, uh... Lake Baikal! And also, uh... a church called Yekaterinburg. ...Yeah, I'm gonna let you google the rest of these names because I am clueless on how to pronounce them._ "

Peter chuckled. "Sounds like fun."

" _What are you doing in Siberia, exactly?_ " Betty asked; supposedly, she was with Ned. They were going to go to the mall today, from what Peter knew.

"Uhh... fighting potential Hydra remnants," he said. "Cap briefed me on that after the meeting."

" _Badass!_ " they both said. " _Hey man, take care, for real,_ " said Ned. " _You my homie, bro. Love you man._ "

"Love you too, bro," Peter chuckled. "See ya Betty!"

" _Bye Peter!_ " Betty said.

And with that, the call ended. Peter sighed, deciding it was better to keep himself occupied than thinking about what he was currently stressing over.

"Hey."

A soft, gentle voice Peter knew well snapped him out of his trance. Wanda was standing in his doorway, leaning against its frame. "I... I overheard the call. I can understand why you're so stressed. Y'know, I was that way too."

"When you first joined?" he asked.

"Mhmm," Wanda nodded. "But... you learn to look on the brighter side of business trips. What with how long it'll take us to get a lock-down on Viper, I wouldn't doubt we'll get a bit of sight-seeing in. That's fun, right?"

"Yeah... yeah, that actually sounds really nice," Peter said, slightly smiling. "I-I, I'm sorry Wanda... you don't need to bear my burdens-"

"Hey, I'm okay with helping carry them," Wanda said, putting her arm around his shoulder. "You... you're such a good friend to me. It's the least I could do."

Peter smiled. "You're such a good friend to me too. Thank you... really. I honestly need a friend like you that I can speak in-person to right now. Ned will always be my best friend, but my worst fear when I came here was that no one would like me; that I would be a complete loner on the team, the oddball that just doesn't fit in... good to know I was an idiot."

"Hey, you call yourself an idiot one more time, and I'm gonna lose it," Wanda said, slightly laughing at the end. "And Peter, I really don't see how anyone could dislike you! You're smart, you're funny, and you're honestly just the sweetest teenager I've ever seen."

"Tell that to Flash Thompson," Peter muttered.

"I want an address now," Wanda said, her big sister mode flipping on like a switch. "Funeral will be in two days-"

"W-Wanda, no!" he laughed, pulling on her arm. "It's okay... he just kinda picks on me, and I send back a roast, he shuts up for a while. It's worked like that since my middle school days."

Wanda nodded carefully... still, she already despised Flash.

"Hey, wanna stop packing for a moment and let me show you something cool?" she asked.

"Sure, anything beats packing," he laughed. Wanda pulled him into her room, and took off her boots - Peter was automatically confused.

"I found a life hack! Now I can actually dance - with noise!" she said, pulling up a pair of flats. "See this? Taped quarters to the bottom. Now I can actually hear myself tapping!"

"Woah, cool!" Peter said, genuinely impressed by Wanda’s ingenuity.

"I've figured out the _steps_ necessary to make cheap tap shoes!" Wanda said, winking. "...I am so disappointed, yet so proud of you," Peter said, laughing.

Wanda began to giggle at Peter's comment - but the teenage superhero wasn't through.

"I mean, seriously, how? How can one be so disappointed and yet be so proud? I am so confused, and frankly - astounded!" Peter continued.

"S-Stop!" Wanda giggled.

Peter sighed. "Okay... fine. But I'm outta here."

"No no no!" Wanda said, jumping up and still giggling. "C'mon... I'm sorry about the tap pun, okay? That was bad, I know."

"You need to work on your pun skills... but for my first time hearing you pun, that wasn't bad," Peter admitted.

"What are you, some sort of pun master?" Wanda asked, scoffing jokingly.

Peter looked up, and pursed his lips.

"Per- _taps_."

Wanda looked at him with a shocked expression, before laughing into his shoulder. "Dear God, you are amazing..."

"Naw, just Spider-Man," Peter chuckled.

"Well then, you are... the amazing Spider-Man!" Wanda giggled. "I mean-I... oh! You need to teach me how to pun! But let me actually show you what I wanted to show you first."

"Alright," Peter chuckled, moving back into Wanda's room and sitting down on the bed. "Okay, now that that's out of the way - what did you wanna show me?"

"Watch this," Wanda said, smiling.

And with that, her phone began to play a really nice piano track - and she started to dance. It was nothing spectacular, by any means, but she was still doing her best - and Peter was astounded. He'd never been a good dancer (a reason why he ditched Liz at the dance, he liked to think), so seeing Wanda so much as move her feet rhythmically was like magic to him.

"Et voila!" she said, striking a pose before plopping back down onto the bed next to Peter. "Did you... did you like my dance?"

"Like it? Wanda, that was awesome! I can't dance whatsoever," Peter said, "so, like... you're on a whole other level from me."

"Aww, thank you," Wanda blushed. "Now-how is your singing coming along?"

"Oh! Oh, uh, well... it's coming along well, I guess," Peter said.

"May... May I hear a little bit of it?" she asked gently.

Peter smirked, and then he stood up.

“And now, the end is near… and so I face the final curtain…” Peter began, singing the first verse of the absolutely timeless classic, My Way by Frank Sinatra. Wanda’s mouth dropped to the floor, and after he was finished, she applauded him graciously.

“That was… that was amazing!” Wanda exclaimed.

“T-Thank you!” Peter chuckled, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. “Can never go wrong with Frank, right?”

“Never,” Wanda concurred.

Suddenly, he found himself hugging Wanda again. "Thank you Wanda... you're a great friend."

The young adult hugged back, a soft smile on her lips. "You're welcome Peter... so are you."

**-0-**

Later on, it was time for dinner - the team was planning to eat together tonight, to celebrate T'Challa being there as their guest.

But when they walked into the kitchen... instead of the meal Clint had promised to whip up, there were about ten boxes of pizza from Pizza Hut.

"Look, I UberEats-d the pizza after I realized that without Nat by my side, I am a disaster in the kitchen," said Clint. "Either that, or cooking chicken at four-thousand degrees for ten seconds isn't an actual shortcut."

"Jesus Clint, you are a disaster," Natasha muttered.

"And you love me for it," Clint said, leaning seductively against the counter and wiggling his eyebrows - Natasha quickly tried to hide her blush.

"I mean, I haven't had pizza in two weeks, so I see this as an absolute win!" Peter smiled.

"That does smell really nice," Wanda nodded.

"I am eager to try this delicacy," said T'Challa. "I missed out on pizza in Siberia - I do not intend to miss it again."

"See! The kids love pizza, and the king already likes it!" Clint said.

"I will need to put in at least two extra hours of training to burn these calories," Steve said.

"Oh come on, hush now," Bucky smirked, "because if you don't eat at least a whole pie-"

"Can you even call yourself American?" asked Sam, joining Bucky.

Steve sighed... he sometimes regretted his choices for best friends.

Wanda and Peter, however, like the best friends they were, were recommending King T'Challa different types of pizza to try - they were both also ‘arguing’ over whether pepperoni or sausage made a better topping. Y'know, as you do.

In the end, however, the king chose ham and pineapple - and Wanda was revolted.

“Pineapple doesn’t belong on a pizza,” she stated firmly. “Just doesn’t.”

“Excuse me?” Peter said, feigning disgust. “Pineapple is one of the holy trinity of pizza toppings that start with ‘p’ - pepperoni, peppers, and pineapple.”

The two ‘argued’ for a bit, somehow finding common ground in the fact that people who put pickles on pizza should be taken out into the street and shot. “We really are something, aren’t we?” Wanda smiled.

Peter looked up at Wanda, and smiled - then, he held up his red cup filled with soda. "Heck yeah we are."

Wanda smiled, and clinked her own cup with his. And then, they went off to the dining table to join the rest of their fellow Avengers.

Peter knew he wouldn't be as scared about Siberia, as long as he had Wanda to talk to.

As long as she was there, he knew it would be okay.

**-0-**

**_Maui, Hawaii - Tony and Pepper's hotel room_ **

Tony paced around the bathroom nervously, just rubbing his head with the info he had just been made aware of - some bounty hunter was going after Peter. And seemingly Wanda too...

"God, how could I be so stupid... why did I ever think to let that kid go in by himself... in such a dangerous setting too..." he muttered.

"Tony, babe?" Pepper called. "Could you please come back out here?"

Tony stepped out of the bathroom, and looked at his fiancee - she was looking at him with concern in her eyes. "Honey. Didn't you hear Cap? Peter and Wanda are both safe and sound. They're okay."

"That's gotta just be Cap's optimism, right? He wouldn't dare tell me if Peter was hurt, because he knows it'll-"

"Make you come back?" Pepper finished.

Tony sighed, feeling defeated. He flopped back onto the bed, feeling more stressed than he had in awhile.

"Listen, honey... I am confident Peter is fine. Wanna FaceTime him? Just to make sure?" she asked.

He nodded subtly.

"Okay, I'll pull him up," Pepper said, sitting down next to her fiance's slumped form on the bed.

About five seconds after the first ring, Peter picked up - there was pizza sauce on his face that he quickly wiped away with a napkin. "Ms. Potts! Hi!"

"Hey Peter!" Pepper smiled. "You okay sweetheart?"

"Yeah! As good as can be!" Peter smiled. "Is Mr. Stark there?"

"Yes, he is," Pepper said, "Tony? You wanna say hi?"

"Pete! Hey kiddo," Tony said, relieved Peter was okay - for a second, he almost had a near-death experience from thinking the pizza sauce was stained blood on Peter's chin. "You doing okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" asked Peter. "O-Oh... Cap told you, huh?"

"Sorry kid, I was just paranoid," said the billionaire. "I-I really hope I didn't-"

"Mr. Stark, it's fine, I swear it is - I appreciate the concern!" Peter said, smiling. "I've had Wanda basically become my big sister thanks to that attack, so it's really all fine."

Tony smiled. "She’s a good kid. Glad you two are close, Pete, I really am. I think I better head off, but it’s been great to hear from you."

"You too, Mr. Stark - and you too Mrs. Potts!" Peter said, before looking over his shoulder at his name being called. "I gotta get back to the guys, but I'll talk to you again when we land in Siberia! Goodbye Mr. Stark, goodbye Mrs. Potts!"

"Bye Peter!" they both said, waving.

He then hung up, and Tony looked at his fiancee with a happy grin on his face. "See? Told you they were fine. And you were so worried..."

Pepper scoffed. "Me? Worried? Uh, if I have ever heard a bigger lie-which I haven't-"

"Hey, let's not focus on the lies," Tony said, sitting up, "and instead... some truths? One of which - I love you so much, Pep."

She smirked. "Here's another - I love you too."

And then, they kissed. And kissed. And kissed...

...I'm not gonna say anything else.

**-0-**

Taskmaster had just slid his sword into his sheath when he heard helicopter rotors outside of his warehouse lair. He sighed, muttered an "about damn time" underneath his breath, and walked out to meet his ride.

The rain was pouring down like never before, but this didn't mean much to him.

There were two people waiting in front of the chopper to meet him. "Mr. Masters, sir! Ms. Sarkissian says she is expecting you."

"Yeah, and what else?" asked Taskmaster, annoyed. "Just get me to Siberia, dammit. I don't have all night."

"Sir, she also requests that you have her intel," the other Russian pilot said; his English was not the best.

"Ophelia will have what she requested, and more," said the enhanced bounty hunter. "Now get this bird in the air."

And with that, Taskmaster entered the helicopter, ready to head off to Siberia.

It was time to finish this.


	11. Chapter 11

Peter had to wake up early the next morning - it was only 6 AM when he was already in the shower. He knew that today, the Avengers would be travelling to Siberia, so he wanted to be prepared. The thought of being in a foreign country to take down a terrorist organization instead of a vacation was... certainly interesting, he could say that much.

He hadn't slept the best last night, however... he had a nightmare about Taskmaster. It was mainly the two fighting, and in the end, he lost; and he could swear he could still hear that upset Sokovian female voice calling out his name in distress, before the bounty hunter disappeared, and he was left in complete darkness... alone.

One of Peter's deepest fears was being left alone; he had experienced it for a while before, and it had scarred him mentally.

But this wasn't his current train of thought. He was trying his best to think about positive things - he had heard a new robotics industry had opened in Queens called "Octavius Industries", which was exciting for a number of reasons. Second, he had texted MJ a lot last night - the two got into a really pleasant conversation about disturbing things that had gone down in Siberia.

Y'know, typical motivating stuff.

And now, he was getting a FaceTime call from May - he opened it, and was greeted by his aunt. "Hey Peter! I remember you said today was the big day, right?"

"Yep! Off to Siberia... woo-hoo!" he said, trying to sound more excited than he was.

"Oh, honey, I know it's a bit nerve-wracking," May said, offering a small smile. "But, you want my two cents? Stick close to Wanda. The way you talk about her... it's like you have a big sister! Just stick close to her, and Captain America of course, and you should be fine."

Peter smiled - genuinely this time. "Thanks May. You really are the best."

"What can I say?" May giggled, smiling back. "Love you, Peter. Take care for me, okay?"

"Will do," Peter said. "Love you too May."

And with that, the call ended - and it was only a few minutes after that he heard a knock on his door. "Come in," he said; he had a feeling he knew who it was, but it turned out to be Captain America instead of Wanda, who he had expected. Nonetheless, he still welcomed the captain inside.

"You feel alright, kid?" asked Steve.

"Yeah... just a little nervous, that's all," Peter said.

Steve nodded. "I understand. However, I've noticed you and Wanda have a certain bond between you two - I recommend you two stick close together. You both are excellent Avengers, but you're both stronger together. Sounds good?"

"Sounds great," Peter nodded.

"Excellent," Steve smiled. "Go ahead and eat breakfast, kiddo. We're leaving in two hours."

Peter nodded, and followed Steve to the cafeteria - most people were eating cereal, since they didn't really have time to cook themselves a full meal if they wanted to be ready for their trip.

"Morning Peter," Wanda smiled at her friend, who had just sat down next to her. "Did you rest well last night?"

"Not really," Peter answered. "I had a pretty nasty nightmare about Taskmaster."

"Oh no!" Wanda said, rubbing his back. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah... I really can't remember a lot of it now," he nodded. "But I'm just really glad you're still here."

"Aww, Peter, I'll always be here," Wanda said, giving him a hug from the side. "You can count on that."

He smiled at Wanda's touch - she was so gentle, and so caring... he didn't understand how some people were scared of her. She was so sweet.

Peter knew he was definitely sharing a hotel room with her.

**-0-**

**_6:00 AM, Siberia_ **

Taskmaster's transport helicopter had just touched down in Siberia - specifically, in a small, seemingly empty building in Vladivostok. The windows were tinted to prevent light from entering and escaping. The cool morning air was beginning to roll in, but it was still near complete darkness outside.

"Took long enough," muttered Taskmaster.

The main pilot uttered some code in Russian into his mic, and the building doors opened - three people stepped out. Two guards, both wearing heavy coats and carrying large guns, were next to a woman wearing a green shirt and black boots. Her hair was jet black, with a streak of green down the front.

Taskmaster stepped off of the helicopter, and walked forward to greet his fellow comrade.

Her name was Ophelia Sarkissian, aka Viper.

"доброе утро, Тони Мастерс," said the woman.

"I didn't have time to practice my Russian on the helicopter," Taskmaster said bluntly. "English, please?"

The woman scowled lightly, but she complied. "Good , Tony Masters," she said, her accent running thick through her words. "I trust your trip to Siberia was pleasant?"

"So-so, could've had more competent staff," he muttered.

Ophelia chuckled. "Couldn't we all? Come, I would like to show you around."

"This place looks awful," Taskmaster muttered.

"It's what's on the inside that counts," Viper smirked. "You Americans say that when you are thinking about love, no?"

"Wouldn't know, haven't had time to think about love in years," Taskmaster said.

Viper already liked her newest business partner - cynical, a dry and dark sense of humor, and completely emotionless... he was perfect. She had waited a long time for someone like Tony Masters.

"So this is where you manufacture your poison, huh?" he said. "It's... decent on the inside, at the very least."

"You must be seeing some impressive shit if you're not in amazement at my poison empire," Ophelia said, smirking.

"Not really a new thing to see groundbreaking stuff in New York," Taskmaster admitted. "At least, with Oscorp still running. Still, I have to admit... you've done a damn decent job, Ophelia."

"Glad you can see that," Viper said, putting her hands on her hips. "I was afraid I'd have to give you a taste of my medicine to convince you."

Taskmaster chuckled. "Y’know, the Avengers should be on their way here pretty soon. My calculations, they'll arrive at dusk. I'd say we should start preparing."

"Way ahead of you," Ophelia nodded.

Suddenly, she pulled a whip out of her jacket, and cracked it against the ground. "Back to work, men and women! We must prepare for the arrival of our latest guests..."

She then turned to face Taskmaster once more, and smirked. "Hail Hydra."

As she strutted off, Taskmaster just scoffed. "Whatever..."

**-0-**

**_Ten hours after takeoff..._ **

Peter was currently fast asleep on the Quinjet, dreaming about... nothing, really. Just sleeping. But that was okay.

He had been asleep for about an hour and a half now, and the rest of the Avengers present were mostly concentrated on gathering any and all info they could on Viper's current whereabouts - they had narrowed her location down to somewhere in Vladivostok, and T'Challa had already booked them a very decent hotel - being a king certainly had its perks.

Wanda was sitting down currently, reading a book she had recently grown attached to. Clint was piloting, and Nat was in the co-pilot seat. The rest of the team was trying to keep themselves busy so they didn't accidentally wake Peter up - they'd never forgive themselves if they did.

However, the kid woke up on his own - and he was clearly in a daze. "Wha... when are we?"

"Hey Peter," Wanda said, looking up from her book. "We're almost there. Possibly another half-hour ahead."

Peter sighed. "Just wish we could get to the hotel already... so sleepy, y'know?"

She smiled softly. "Yeah, I agree with you."

"Well, you kids are in luck," Natasha said from the co-pilot seat. "We've actually only got twenty minutes until we land."

"I have rented a limousine for our transportation to the hotel," said T'Challa.

"Is there anything you can't get?" Bucky chuckled.

T'Challa smirked, but then sighed. "A victory against your Secretary of State, apparently."

"Damn, that's cold," Rhodey muttered.

**-0-**

It had been forty minutes since they had landed - forty minutes that consisted of landing, waiting on the limo, then going on a pretty lengthy ride to their hotel. The king was recognized instantly, thankfully, so getting checked in was not a big issue. Steve was with T'Challa, Rhodey with Vision, Clint with Nat, Bucky with Sam, and Peter with Wanda.

The very minute they stepped into their room, Peter rolled his suitcase into the corner and crashed down onto the bed - he had worn his pajamas for the trip, so he had no worries about changing. He barely had the strength to pull himself underneath the covers.

However, as Wanda moved to the other bed, Peter suddenly stirred.

"Oh no..."

"What is it?" she asked.

"I forgot... was gonna let you have first dibs," said Peter.

Wanda sighed, before chuckling happily. "Oh Peter... even in sleep, you are still such a gentleman. I'm fine with this bed."

"You sure? I'll get up," Peter said, moving to take the covers off.

"No no no! Lay back down, go to sleep," Wanda said. "You've had a long day. Rest now."

He nodded. "Alrighty... night Wanda."

"Goodnight Peter," she smiled softly. "Sweet dreams."

And with that, she crawled underneath her own covers, ready to go to sleep and finally get a good night's rest.

And yet, they were completely unaware of how close they were to their enemies - Taskmaster and Viper were only a few miles away.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long lovelies!!! I hope this chapter is good enough to make up for my absence. I hope you all had a blessed holiday season! <333

Taskmaster was polishing his sword, not thinking about much except for revenge - he so desperately desired revenge on the two youngest Avengers... when you could go toe-to-toe with Captain America and Nick Fury, but Spider Man and Wanda Maximoff were able to outflank you... what happened there?

That just didn't make any sense...

The crack of a whip snapped him out of his trance. He looked up, and there was Ophelia.

"Just making sure that you're not falling asleep," she chuckled.

"Who the hell do you take me for?" Taskmaster growled, standing up abruptly. "I'm not just some lackey. I've gone toe-to-toe with the Avengers - you're nothing compared to them."

"Then let me against them on my own," Viper hissed, moving closer to Taskmaster. "See who does better. You're one to talk, anyway... you got your ass handed to you by a spider and a witch."

"For the record, they didn't hand my ass to me, they only flanked me," said Taskmaster. "You, however, have been beaten by me in combat several times. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again, and give you a taste of your own medicine while I'm at it."

Viper then angrily shouted in Russian, "Не заставляй меня отравлять тебя!" ( _Don't make me poison you!_ )

"Я хотел бы, чтобы ты попробовал, сука," Taskmaster fired back. ( _I'd like to see you try, bitch._ )

Viper hissed, wanting so badly in this moment to beat Taskmaster to a bloody pulp... but she knew how dangerous he was, even to a woman as dangerous as herself.

"I will forget this ever happened if you bring me the Avengers," said Viper. "And nothing but."

"With pleasure," Taskmaster agreed. "Besides, petty arguing is at the bottom of my to-do list."

"And what might be at the top?" Viper asked as he walked away.

Taskmaster turned back, and chuckled darkly.

"You'll see..."

And with that, Taskmaster had left the building.

Viper just smirked. "That man is too mysterious for anyone's good..."

**-0-**

Wanda was the first to wake up the next morning - she really liked her hotel bed. It was really comfy, and the room itself was quite cozy. She looked over to her side, and smiled at the sight next to her.

Peter was completely sprawled out underneath the covers, snoring in a way that she didn't hardly notice; it was still really adorable, however. She looked over at the clock - it was 9:30. She began to get worried, but after seeing a missed text from Clint that said all of the team was sleeping in until at least 10, her nerves were immediately calmed. She decided it wouldn't hurt to get a few more minutes of shut-eye, anyway...

However, these plans of hers were put to rest (no pun intended) when she heard Peter yawn loudly from the other side of the room.

"Good morning," she smiled, looking over at him.

"Hey, good morning," Peter smiled. "God... this feels so weird... I'm gonna be so jet lagged when we get back."

Wanda giggled softly. "Well, if it's any condolence, we're going on a city tour around two."

"Epic," Peter said, stretching.

Wanda smiled again, and went back to browsing her phone. "Hey... imagine if I tried tapping, like, right now."

"Oh good lord, you'll get us kicked out," Peter laughed.

Wanda was laughing along with him very fast. "But c'mon! I need to dance! I'll forget stuff if I don't practice!"

"Practice in your slippers!" Peter laughed.

"But it's not as fun without the tappy sounds," Wanda pouted.

Peter and Wanda were both laughing in their slightly-delirious morning state, completely and utterly overcome with happiness. They were both able to forget about the reason they came on this trip, if only for a while, and have a bit of enjoyment.

"So, you wanna have the first shower?" asked Peter.

"Nah, it'll take me longer," Wanda said. "You go ahead."

"Thank you," Peter smiled.

"No problem," Wanda said, smiling back.

And besides, she got to catch a few more z's while she waited... What did she have to lose?

**-0-**

**_4:30 PM_ **

It had been a longer tour than they had anticipated, but Peter and Wanda had still enjoyed it nonetheless.

However, it hadn't been but ten minutes after they had gotten back to their room that they were informed they may need to be on the move again.

"Hey Peter," Wanda said, standing up from her chair. "Nat's just texted me. Told me to let you know we need to go over to her and Clint's room."

"Okay," Peter nodded. "Did she say why?"

"No, but I think it might be urgent," said Wanda.

Peter nodded, and the two headed over to the room. They stepped out into the hallway just in time to see Sam and Bucky walking over to the room themselves. After they got in, they quickly discovered how cramped it was.

"Try to pile around," Natasha said. "This is urgent.

When everyone got into a somewhat decent position, Natasha revealed the news.

"We've officially located it," Natasha said. "Viper's lair is right here."

She was pointing to a location on her phone, trying to show it to all the guys and girls that had piled into that one single hotel room.

"That's an ideal location," said Vision. "Pray tell, how did you find it out?"

"I sent out a drone to look over areas of suspicion," T'Challa said. "And I saw a man in white and blue armor talking with Ms. Sarkissian in the parking lot of a run-down building, before heading back in - they seemed to be really cautious about who saw them enter as well."

"Taskmaster," Peter and Wanda whispered.

"What? He's here in Siberia?" asked Steve.

"Evidently," said Wanda. "Name one other villain we've recently encountered that fits that description."

Sam nodded. "So, what's the game plan?"

"I say we wait until nightfall," Bucky suggested. "That way we can catch 'em off guard. Maybe hit a shift that slacks off."

"Regardless, we need to make sure we get rid of Viper and her entire organization," said Clint. "Remember - as much as we'd all love to bring in Taskmaster too, he's not the first priority here. Don't make him the main target unless absolutely necessary."

But Peter and Wanda shared the briefest of glances that shared the same message - Taskmaster was their main target, Viper was just an added bonus.

They'd do their best to help out as much as possible, but they both knew who they really needed to be after.

And, after getting back to their room, they both discussed their plan.

"So... we sure we wanna attack Taskmaster?" asked Peter. "I'm only doing it if you're gonna be beside me."

"Of course," Wanda said. "No one else I'd rather fight that son of a bitch with."

And with that, Peter and Wanda shared a sweet and stress relieving hug - Peter just really liked being hugged, and Wanda knew this well. She made sure to put all her sister-like love into the hug she could.

"Hey Peter?" she said. "Give MJ one of these for me, okay?"

And then, she leaned back, and kissed his forehead. Peter was a bit shocked, but in all honesty, he felt... happy. Like, really happy. Happier than he should be right now.

"O-Okay," he said. "Will do Wanda."

"You're welcome," Wanda smiled happily.

**-0-**

**_8:00 PM_ **

The sound of a whip cracking was the last sound Taskmaster intended to hear at this hour - but evidently, Ophelia had something to say.

"Они идут. Убедитесь, что наши гости получили теплый прием," she said loudly. ( _They are coming. Make sure our guests receive a warm welcome_.)

Taskmaster abruptly stood up, drawing his sword from his sheath. "Thought you said it would be at least Wednesday before they got here."

"Well, looks like my calculations were slightly off," said Viper, brandishing her whip. "Now. You wanna go kill those fools, or what? You're just gonna stand there and act all tough?"

"Я думал, что дал понять - я не буду проверяться," Taskmaster growled. ( _I thought I made myself clear - I will not be tested._ )

Viper smirked dangerously. "That's more like it. Now, let's get out there and kick ass."

And with that, Taskmaster and Viper walked off together to go and confront the Avengers.

Despite the fact that they both were completely different, they did have two common targets in mind...

And they were planning on attacking to kill.

**Author's Note:**

> Any and all feedback is loved and appreciated!! Even just kudos makes my day. <3 Thanks guys! Love y'all!


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